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LL Cool J was born and grew up in Queens, New York City. He signed to Def Jam in 1984 and released the underground hit "I Need a Beat" (see 1984 in music). The song was the first hit record for Def Jam, and its success persuaded him to drop out of school to record Radio ( 1985 in music). The album was released to critical acclaim, as LL Cool J was one of the first rappers to use conventional song structure to make pop-oriented rap. "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and "Rock the Bells" were successful and helped the album go platinum. In 1987, he released Bigger and Deffer (see 1987 in music). The ballad "I Need Love" was one of the first pop-rap songs to be a hit. Critics scoffed at his new direction, though, and by the release of Walking with a Panther ( 1989 in music), he was booed offstage at the Apollo Theater.

Eager to regain his hardcore audience, he released Mama Said Knock You Out , easily the hardest record he had made, which re-established his reputation in the hip hop community. After acting in The Hard Way and Toys, he released 14 Shots to the Dome to muted sales and mixed reviews. He starred in In the House , an NBCSteff Geissbuhler. The feathers are said to represent the network's six divisions. NBC Universal Television is an American television network based in New York's Rockefeller Center. As of May 2004, it became part of NBC Universal. NBC supplies programming sitcom, before releasing Mr. Smith ( 1995 in musicSee also 1994 in music, other events of 1995, 1996 in music, 1990s in music and the list of 'years in music' Events January 18 Jerry Garcia wrecks his rented BMW into a guard rail near Mill Valley, California. Garcia is not injured in the accident. Februa), a double platinum hit. Its singles, "Doin' It" and "Loungin", were two of the biggest songs in 19961996 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty''. Events January January 5 Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash is killed by an Israeli-planted booby-trapped cell phone Jan and both songs' music videos were hugely successful on MTVMTV is a cable television network, originally devoted to music videos, especially popular rock music. MTV later became an outlet for a variety of different material aimed at adolescents and young adults. Since 1985, MTV has been owned by Viacom. Its name. Another of the album's singles, "Hey Lover", featured Boyz II MenBoyz II Men is a Motown vocal group from Philadelphia, founded in 1988, consisting of Wanya Morris, Michael McCary, Shawn Stockman, and Nathan Morris. Based on the record sales, they are the most successful R&B group of all time. They had five U. 1 pop hi singing the chorus and eventually became one the first rap music videos to air on American VH1VH1 (which stands for Video Hits 1 is an American cable television channel that was created in 1985. With then four-year-old MTV's popularity rising drastically among teens, VH1 began with the intention to capitalize off of the success of the music video.. In 1996, LL also helped to launch a clothing line named FUBU; the name is an acronym for "For Us, By Us", meaning that the clothes were made for and marketed to black people by a black person.

His next album was 10 from 2002 ( 2002 in music). It included the popular singles "Paradise" (featuring Amerie), "Luv U Better", and the massive 2003 Jennifer Lopez duet, "All I Have".

His latest album, Definition, came out just recently. His biggest hit so far from the album is the song "Headsprung".