LL Cool J

Dear Mama: A Mother's Day Hip-Hop Playlist

This Sunday is Mother's Day. (Yes, we're sure. Yes, there's still time to get her something.) And what better way to thank the person who brought you into this world than with the gift of music? Few genres have dedicated as many songs to the importance of mothers and mother-figures as hip-hop, but i ... More >>

ODD PRESENT

Earl Sweatshirt headlines the Downtown Music Festival

The Ten Best Concerts in NYC This Week, 4/29/13

Kim Gordon, ?uestlove, Andrew Bird and Andrew W.K. walk into a Masonic Temple ... these are the 10 best shows in NYC this week.

R.A. the Rugged Man: The Music Industry is "Crooked Fake Phonies Marketing hemselves to the world

R.A. The Rugged Man releases his Legends Never Die album this week. It's a project the thuggish ruggish rap chap promises will showcase his ability to "annihilate any rapper on this Earth." We don't doubt the Rugged man. In other, chirpier news, here's R.A. explaining away his Twitter timeline chatt ... More >>

LET'S DUET

A night of musical collisions

How to Spot Hollywood's Nonthreatening Black Man (NTBM)

The Real Conversation Started by "Accidental Racist" Is in the Comment Section of CNN

Yeah, Brad Paisley's "Accidental Racist" may not be a perfect song. It might not be a totally inoffensive or non-hilarious song. But, dangit, Brad Paisley and LL Cool J were just trying to start a conversation. "I felt like when we were writing this song," Paisley told Ellen DeGeneres, "it wasn't n ... More >>

Five Other Failed Rap/Country Experiments

The hubbub this week regarding Brad Paisley and LL Cool J's controversial duet "Accidental Racist" has, among other things, given a sign that the world might still not be ready yet for a full blown country and hip-hop crossover. While rap has been above an attempted crossover, no matter how poorly c ... More >>

The Top 20 NYC Rap Albums of All Time: The Complete List

Any list of the Greatest New York Rap Albums of All Time is, essentially, a list of simply the Greatest Rap Albums of All Time. The genre was invented here, after all, and over the years -- from early days to Golden Age and onward-- the city's hip-hop history has been an embarrassment of riches. Fas ... More >>

The Top 20 NYC Rap Albums of All Time: 20 - 11

Any list of the Greatest New York Rap Albums of All Time is, essentially, a list of simply the Greatest Rap Albums of All Time. The genre was invented here, after all, and over the years -- from early days to Golden Age and onward-- the city's hip-hop history has been an embarrassment of riches. Fas ... More >>

The Best Tweets and Photos From Last Night's Grammy Awards

Last night, during the 55th Grammy Awards, we trudged through the bile and self-loating of angry would-be comedians and critics who took to Twitter to tell Jack White he looks like Edward Scissorhands and Johnny Depp he looks like the butt baby of Jack Sparrow and Steve Tyler and Adele she was dress ... More >>

30 Rock's Most Hilarious Rap References

30 Rock wraps up tonight, as the Tina Fey-penned show signs off with its final episode. During the show's seven seasons of hilarity, it's never been shy of weaving rap references into its script (a tick helped by Donald Glover a/k/a/ Childish Gambino holding down a writer's position at one point). S ... More >>

Q&A: Eric Haze On Going From A Graffiti Background To Designing Iconic Hip-Hop Logos

Sometimes cultural icons are known for their contributions to a culture, but the individual behind the talent gets lost in the sauce. Having designed a lot of rap groups' early logos, Eric Haze is one of these individuals whose work you see daily, but whose face and name you may not be familiar wit ... More >>

Q&A: Big Fun In The Big Town Director Bram Van Splunteren On The '80s New York Hip-Hop Scene

"The Beastie Boys were just silly," says Dutch-based documentary maker Bram Van Splunteren. "You couldn't do a serious interview with those guys. They were just goofing around. We had them rap down the phone but I don't remember any kind of content from that interview." Back in the mid-'80s, Splunt ... More >>

Wax Is For Anthrax: Drummer Charlie Benante On 8 Anthrax Rap Experiments

​The unstoppable, zombie-slaying Anthrax album Worship Music is their first in 21 years with classic vocalist Joey Belladonna, and naturally, it's full of thrash that hearkens back to the halcyon days of Jams shorts and up-flipped caps. However, if rap fans check out "Devil You Know," they mig ... More >>

Celebs Who've Refused to Be Interviewed by Me

​Whether they're afraid or simply dismissive, certain big names -- or at least their handlers -- have unceremoniously denied my requests to chat with them through the years. The glittery dishonor roll is as follows: LL Cool J. And I only asked because it was a slow news week. Betty White. W ... More >>

Top Ten Greatest Rap-Acronym Anthems

​Kanye West and Jay-Z's Lex Luger-produced "H.A.M." is a creative union of the two biggest currently recording rap stars in the world -- as the lead single to the duo's upcoming Watch the Throne project, it's a feisty statement of intent. But more importantly, it's a fresh edition to the canon ... More >>

Marcus Samuelsson Remembers His Humble New York Beginnings

​"I love old Times Square; it's the first place I got to when I was 18 and landed in New York. They were filming a music video with Eric B and Rakim, with LL Cool J and some other guys in the background. People stole our bags, but despite that, I remember feeling like I had arrived." -- Marcus ... More >>

Mike Tyson's Top Ten Rap Cameos

​Reggie Rock Bythewood's One Night in Vegas, airing on ESPN tonight as part of the network's "30 for 30" documentary series, shines a light on the little known friendship and many parallels between tortured souls Mike Tyson and Tupac Shakur. The title of Bythewood's documentary is a reference ... More >>

Please Enjoy Complex.com's List Of The 75 Greatest Tunnel Bangers Of All Time

​The Tunnel, as you'll recall (?), was a famously wild Manhattan nightclub that played host to raucous, dangerous, and thus permanently legendary Sunday-night hip-hop parties, hosted primarily by the shy, retiring Funkmaster Flex and generating practically their own personal cache of hit songs ... More >>

Brother Ali

Dept. of Corrections: LL Cool J Is, In Fact, Hard As Hell. As is Toby Keith.

He represents Queens, she was reared in Wasilla. ​Sometimes, we make mistakes. Like that time we declared doorknob-dead the street credibility (or: "cred") of Queens-bred rapper LL Cool J. As it so happens, LL himself has remedied the situation, and even left his mother out of it..

LL Cool J Is Displeased About This Whole "Allegedly Appearing On Sarah Palin's Show" Thing

​Sarah Palin's new Fox News talk show starts Thursday. LL Cool J has been widely reported to be among her guests. (Toby Keith, too, who makes a hell of a lot more sense.) Except... maybe not? So far LL has not elaborated other than re-Tweeting this missive to everyone who asks, but it should b ... More >>

Whoops! Toby Keith Joins LL Cool J As A Totally Unwitting Participant On Sarah Palin's Fox News Show

​So, to recap: among those surprised by the announcement that LL Cool J would be among the inaugural guests on Sarah Palin's new Fox News talk show, Real American Stories, was LL Cool J himself, who proceeded to tweet angrily that the interview Fox was using to promote Palin's show dated back ... More >>

What Do LL Cool J and Sarah Palin Have In Common?

​If you answered, "They both got lyrical beatdowns from Canibus in 1998," well, not quite -- if only because we can't confirm it. If you answered, "Brooklyn thinks they're just punchlines," close, but no cigar. Every borough has Wrong People, even Brooklyn, sparse as they may be. If you answer ... More >>

How to Fix the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Tips on how to expand its reach—or blow it up entirely

LL Cool J, satanist: Studies in Crap presents Dancing With Demons

Each Thursday, your Crap Archivist brings you the finest in forgotten and bewildering crap culled from basements, thrift stores, estate sales and flea markets. I do this for one reason: Knowledge is power.​ Dancing With Demons: The Music's Real Master Author: Jeff Godwin Date: 1988 ... More >>

Riot, Girls! Stooges Enter Rock Hall of Fame; ABBA, Genesis, Cliff, Hollies Also In

​The Stooges, who patiently rocked behind Iggy while beer bottles flew at the Michigan Theater in the late 60s and early 70s, have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rendering the honor bittersweet is guitarist Ron Asheton's death earlier this year, and music in general. Also ... More >>

F2K: The 50 Worst Songs of the '00s

Since this archive page mysteriously disappeared over at its original home, consider this your new bookmark/placeholder/friend on late, lonely nights. Confused? More here. ​It's super-cute to peruse decade-end lists and pretend to be enthusiastic about true artists like Arcade Fire, timeless m ... More >>

Forget the ABC Upfronts: CBS Just Unleashed a Little Secret They Like to Call LL Cool J

The internet has been abuzz all week with the news--and now, footage--of Jimmy Kimmel's barrage of zingers at ABC's upfronts advertising presentation, which depending on who you heard from was either shockingly over the line or not at all a big deal. But Wednesday, CBS struck back in the sheer ent ... More >>

Estelle+LL Cool J

Albany! LL Cool J Endorses Smith, Diaz Fights "Homosexual Marriage"

Say, aren't our elected representatives supposed to go to Albany and get sworn in on January 1? And isn't the fate of the elected Democratic majority -- the state's first since the Ice Age -- still unsettled? Would-be Majority Leader Malcolm Smith's biggest achievement recently was to pick up the en ... More >>

LL Cool J: "Me and you, let's go the truck stop salad bar"

This Week's Voice: Hip-Hop Honors, Kind of Blue, the Streets, Body of Lies, and More

LL Cool J Eats His Own Lunch, and a Few Other Things

Jurassic Park

Old-timers want attention, need better songs

The BET Awards: A Running Diary

The Killers: Not Enough Like Def Leppard

Monday 8/7 and Tuesday 8/8

Stupid White Men

Get ready 'cause this ain't funny: Ad-Rock, Mike D, and MCA pay for their non-mistakes

NY Mirror

The Bachelorettes

World Enough and Time

R. Kelly, Snoop, and Some Other Peeps!

Academy Fight Songs

Lands of Confusion

Green Meets the Queen

Nader Nuzzles Up to Young America

Lunch Goes On

Burritos, Burgers, Chili Dogs, and Vienna Sausages

Boys and Girls of Summer

A Cincinnati Narc Strikes a Pose

MEA CULPA!

Records We Overlooked That Made a Splash in 1998