Getty Host LL Cool J speaks onstage during The 58th Grammy Awards in 2016.
It has been documented for years that LL Cool J and Jay-Z don’t have the best relationship.
According to Hip-Hop Wired, Jay-Z once discussed LL Cool J in an interview with Rolling Stone. “We’ve seen people like LL Cool J have longevity,” he said.
“And we respect the heritage of what he’s done but it’s not like right now he’s competing on the same level as Lil’ Wayne so for me to still be able to compete at that level at my age, that’s rarefied air, it’s never been done.”
Jay-Z added:
I think the problem with people, as they start to mature, they say, ‘Rap is a young man’s game,’ and they keep trying to make young songs. But you don’t know the slang — it changes every day. You can visit the topic, but these young kids live it every day, and you’re just visiting. So you’re trying to be something you’re not, and the audience doesn’t buy into that. And people wonder why [they’re not selling]. ‘I made a great Southern bounce song!’ You’re from New York, and you’re 70! Why are you bouncing?
Was That a Dis or a Compliment?
A two-time Grammy winner, LL Cool J was one of the first artists to sign with Def Jam Records, according to NPR. He changed the game for hip-hop and also holds the distinction of releasing 10 consecutive platinum-selling albums, according to NBC Los Angeles.
A few years ago, LL Cool J became the first rap musician to be recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors on its 40th anniversary, Billboard reported.
During a recent interview with rapper Fat Joe, LL Cool J addressed his relationship with Jay-Z.
“I don’t have a bad vibe with homie,” said the Queens native:
People have misunderstandings. When we were young, young; super young, from what I understand, maybe, there was a contest or something and he rapped and maybe I laughed at him or something. But you know, we’re little kids. He’s probably a year younger than me. Right? Maybe a year and a half. Okay? So, If I’m 16 or 17 and he’s 15 or 16, just think about us, just think about us, think about a contest happening and think about him saying something and me giggling or laughing. You know? And then maybe his uncle. I have no malice. I’m like it’s all love from me and I mean that sincerely, like I don’t have no type of ill-feelings, no type of weird vibes. Like, I wish everybody success. I want to see everybody succeed Joe. So, you know, it’s a little tricky and dicey. So many people put a lot of things on it. But I aint got no problem with homie at all.
Stephon Marbury Recently Spoke Out About Jay-Z
Some of Jay-Z’s peers have been outspoken recently about their relationships with the hip-hop mogul.
Insert former NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury.
A native of the New York City borough of Brooklyn like Jay-Z, Marbury recently appeared on the Heavy Live With Scoop B Show and accused Jay-Z of making ‘crack babies’ by selling drugs in the Marcy Projects, where the rapper grew up.
“I look at Jay-Z and I say, ‘Wow, here you are trying to be something that you’re not. You’re not an advocate for Black people, you sold drugs to Black people and you rapped about it and talked about it. How do you do that? Like, I’m trying to figure that part out; like, you can’t make that right. This ain’t snitching, this ain’t telling on nobody, you told on yourself already.”
Added Marbury:
“You sold drugs to people where you’re from Jay-Z in Brooklyn in Marcy [Projects], you got them on crack — whatever it is cocaine whatever it is that you were selling to them. Whatever you say you was ‘cooking up’, that’s what you did. So now, you got your people high, you sold drugs to people that was pregnant now you created crack babies — these same babies that are going out killing grandparents … I’m confused. But that’s what it is. That’s what happened.”
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