Why LL Cool J Still Values His Critically Panned Albums

Some of LL Cool J's rap albums have won music awards, upped his hip-hop credibility and delighted legions of fans. Other albums of his, however, have completely flopped. Yet, despite the mixed reception, LL says he's happy to have remained true to those artistic experiments.

"If I wanted to do something bizarre or do something weird or do something that's musically different or not what you would think a young black man in the street would be into, I still did it," he says. "It got me in trouble a lot of times and critically panned a lot of times, and it undermined my appeal in certain areas of the hip-hop community. But at the same time, as an artist, it gave me freedom."

Watch as LL takes on the formulaic standard of hip-hop's "young, adolescent, macho music," and reveals why he places such value on musical experimentation.

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