- How are you?
 How you doing?
 I'm doing well.
You're-- I think you're
doing better than I am.
Did you ever imagine
that you would one day
have your own radio station?
- Absolutely not.
- No.
 Absolutely not.
You know--
 It's exciting, right?
 It's very exciting because,
you know, for so many years
artists had to water
their music down,
including myself on certain
levels, and just hope,
and pray, and cross our
fingers that some program
director would play our music.
- Really?
 And-- yeah.
A lot of artists go through
that out there, and--
 What songs do you feel
specifically you watered down?
 Well, it's not--
 Which are the watered
down LL Cool J--
 It's not a particular single.
What it is, it's how
the music is put out.
In other words, like,
let's take a song
like "Mama Said Knock You Out,"
which is-- a lot of people
are aware of.
[APPLAUSE]
- Yeah.
And they all-- they all clapped.
They all clap.
But when "Mama Said
Knock You Out" came out,
it got very little air play.
It grew-- it grew
over the years,
and people are familiar with it.
 The video, I think,
is part of what made it.
 The video made it, but it
got very little air play,
and a lot of the
music is like that.
So now with Rock the Bells
radio, what I've decided to do
is-- yes, we will play all
of the popular rap records
that you know, and a lot of
the big hits, and classic hits
that you love.
However, we also, you know, are
digging deep into the crates.
We're digging deep into the
underbelly of the music,
and giving you the
culture of the music.
So Rock the Bells radio is
very polarizing in that sense
because if you're like,
the person who has, like,
your favorite 10 rap
songs from college,
you're going to hate it.
- Oh, really?
 Because it's not that.
It's not "I Want to Rock Right
Now" over and over again.
- Right.
- It's not that.
And I love-- I love Raw Bass,
you know what I'm saying?
But it's not that.
This is a-- this
is a radio station
that's about the culture.
It's about classic
hip hop for real,
so if you want to be
a fly on the wall,
and you really
want to understand
where rap music came from for
real, this is the place to go.
 This is the stuff
that influenced you?
 Yeah.
Well-- well, it's partly--
I go all the way from the
late '70s, all the way
to the early 2000s, right?
And so I will play
music from guys
like Cold Crush Brothers,
who most of them
have probably never heard of.
Grandmaster Caz.
Fearless Four,
Treacherous Three.
Cash Crew.
Soul Sonic Force.
Afrika Bambaataa.
All of these people that
a lot of them never heard.
But I also play
Grandmaster Flash,
and I also play Run DMC,
and the Beastie Boys,
and LL Cool J, and Public Enemy.
 Right.
 People they do know.
So it's one of those
things where you'll get--
you'll get classic hip
hop, but you're going
to get it a couple of ways.
You're going to get the
big hits that you know,
but you're also going
to be introduced
to where it came from.
Because this will be the
first time in America
that hip hop is truly,
truly exposed to you guys,
and you really get a
chance to find out, OK,
what's rap music really about?
I'm not saying you're
going to like it,
because it's very polarizing.
I'm telling you.
You know, it's not for
the faint of heart.
We're not trying to
be family friendly.
The language is-- yeah,
the language is nasty.
 But in those--
 Either you love
it, or you don't.
I'm giving it to you raw.
I'm giving it to you raw.
You know what I mean?
I'm giving it to you raw.
 In those early
days, rap music was--
I think, obviously, rap
music has evolved over years,
like any kind of music
has, but just lyrically,
it seemed like in those early
days a lot of it was boasting,
a lot of it was
just kind of fun.
Like-- like the
Sugarhill Gang, you know?
It's not-- you
know, eating chicken
at your friend's mom's house,
and it tastes like wood,
and stuff like that.
- Yeah.
All right.
But let me give you a piece--
let me give you an example
about-- you named that song.
And you're right
about that, on vinyl.
But there is stuff that we
play that's not from vinyl,
that's a little more raw.
And like-- think how
the Grateful Dead were
popular even without records.
Think about groups that
never made it on wax,
and didn't go platinum,
and didn't go gold.
But they did live music.
We're playing snippets of
those cassettes, you know?
And things like that, as well.
 Well, you find the old
mixtapes, and stuff like that.
 Yeah.
We're digging in
the crates heavy.
We're going all over, mining
all over to find that stuff.
But like, you mentioned
Sugarhill Gang.
So one of the artists
that we feature
on the station that has new
music, and classic music
as well is Grandmaster Caz.
One of the stories people
don't know is that the song
"Rapper's Delight"
that you-- you
know, the chicken taste like--
with that whole, you know,
hotel, motel, Holiday Inn?
Well, Grandmaster Caz
actually wrote those lyrics.
 Oh, really?
 Yeah.
Big Bang Hank actually took--
and may he rest in
peace, Big Bang Hank,
and shout out to
Sugarhill, it's all love,
but I'm just exposing the truth
about what the culture's about.
That song-- a lot of
the rhymes in that song
were not even written by
the guy who was saying it.
That was written by--
Yes.
That was written
by Grandmaster Caz
from the Cold Crush Brothers,
who's a guy that you
will hear on our station.
So these are the
kinds of stories
that you hear on this station.
Like, I'm introducing
you to the real culture.
Like, for real.
Like, I was on the
phone with Kool
Herc, who actually started hip
hop, for hours the other day.
I was on the phone with
Grandmaster Flash, who
was one of the founders, and one
of the godfathers of hip hop,
and like a mentor.
I'm bringing in the people that
actually started the music.
Because there was hip hop
before LL Cool J and Run DMC.
And there was hip hop
before Tupac and Biggie.
You know?
And there was hip hop
before all of these people
that are so famous now.
So you need to understand
where it comes from,
so that you can understand,
OK, what is Kendrick doing?
What is Drake doing?
OK, how does that compare
to where it came from?
What does it mean?
You know what I mean?
Because a lot of the
stations, they're
only playing the music for
you that is like, the pop hit.
So you're only hearing the
song with the big chorus
that the program director
thinks, my people in my city
are going to like.
- Right.
 But you're not getting--
you're not getting the real,
you know what I'm saying?
You're not getting
the real, raw hip hop.
So for some of you, when
you turn to channel 43,
you're going to-- you
know, on Sirius XM--
you're going to be--
you know, you're going
to be turned off.
You're going to be like,
aw, I can't get into this.
And for some of you it's going
to be the most thrilling moment
of your life,
because you're going
to find out that, yo, so this
is what it's really about.
This is where hip
hop really came from.
- Interesting.
- Like, for real.
Like not, like, pop.
Not guys walking around
with a bunch of chains
on, faking it, pretending.
Like-- like, for real.
It's real.
- The music?
 The music.
The culture.
It's for the culture.
I'm doing this for
the culture, I'm
doing this for these guys
that started up early.
This is like, a passion
project of mine.
 I've never seen you
this passionate before.
 Yeah, because--
because it matters.
 I really haven't.
 It matters to me.
You know, when I-- when I
talked to Scott Greenstein,
and Dion, and Jay,
and Steve Blatter,
and all the guys at the--
at Sirius, and we talked about
this-- these are radio guys.
We talked about really doing
something for the culture.
So--
- But they don't care.
Those guys don't care
about the culture.
I'm just gonna
tell you right now.
 Naw.
Naw.
No, no, no, no, no.
- I know Scott Greenstein.
He doesn't even care about--
- No, no, no.
No, but you know what
he's smart enough to do?
He's smart enough to
let me care for him.
 I don't blame him.
 Yeah, he let me
care for him, though.
- I'm nervous right now.
- Naw, don't be nervous.
I love him.
I love Scott.
Scott's my man.
 We are back with
LL Cool J. He's
got a new radio
station on Sirius
XM, Rock the Bells Radio.
I have rarely ever
seen you this excited.
 Yeah.
 I don't know if I've
ever seen you this excited.
 Naw.
Probably not, because
it's just so exciting.
 As a kid, what was
your favorite radio
station growing up
in New York that's
something you listened to?
 Well, you know, as
a kid, there was two.
First, it was WHBI.
I don't know if it was a
college station or whatever,
but that's where Mr. Magic
and Marley Marl were at,
and that was how I was
really exposed to hip hop.
First of all, I got exposed
to hip hop on the street,
through mix tapes
and cassette tapes.
Not through the radio.
 How old were you at that time?
- When I got exposed to it?
- Yeah.
- About eight or nine.
- Yeah, OK.
 And I started
writing at maybe--
12?
11, 12.
And then at 14 I started
trying to make a song,
or recording-- you
know, professionally.
And around 16, that's when we--
I got with Rick Rubin
and we started Def Jam,
you know what I mean?
But-- yeah.
My favorite station,
though, was WHBI.
Then it became BLS,
than it became KISS,
and then later on it
was Hot 97, until they
stopped playing my music.
[LAUGHTER]
 You ruled them out.
 Yeah.
 Well-- now, you
can play it yourself.
 Yeah, it's all love, though.
Play it now.
Play it anyway, all right?
Give me some love.
 Was there any thought to
only playing your music on Rock
the Bells?
 That's what
everybody expected.
Everybody-- oh, this is
going to be a vanity deal.
It's going to be all
LL, all the time.
All Cool J all day.
Naw, I play-- you
know, I play my music,
but I'm not overdoing it.
Like, it's really-- I have
some songs that just don't work
on the channel because I
don't feel like, creatively,
they're the right fit.
And so I don't play them.
I only play the music of
mine that I think really
works on the channel,
and I don't overdo it.
You know what I'm saying?
Because it's not about me.
 When you hear one of your
songs come on the radio,
do you sit--
you listen through it?
Or do you switch away?
 On Rock the Bells
I listen to it
because I'm doing
my homework, and I
gotta listen to my station
to make it sounds right.
 But just in general.
- I'm clicking off.
- You do click it off?
- Yeah.
- Wow.
 You know, the song
"Rock the Bells--"
I was thinking about it today.
There's no bells in
that song at all.
 Well, there's a reason about--
there's a reason for that.
That's because
originally the song
was supposed to be to the
music that you hear on Run
DMC's song "Peter Piper."
 Oh, OK.
 "Mardi Gras," by Bob James.
I wanted to sample that.
I told Rick about it, and
Rick said oh, yeah, great.
And the next thing
I knew Run DMC had
"Now, Peter Piper picked--"
- Oh, really?
 Yeah.
No, hold on.
But let me finish.
But it was all good.
I said yo, Rick,
how did you do that?
Because in all fairness, you
know, Jam Master Jay, Run D--
all of us are from
the same neighborhood,
so we have a lot of
the same influence.
So that-- that Bob James
"Mardi Gras" sample--
they kind of beat
me to the punch,
and Rick Rubin gave
them the assist.
He was aiding and abetting
the beating to the punch.
So what ended up
happening is I did
an original version of "Rock
the Bells," and I still wasn't--
felt it wasn't quite right.
And then Rick finally--
we did another one
and he redeemed himself, and
it ended up being way better.
And Rick was like, oh,
there's a million ideas.
Don't worry about it.
And he was right.
It ended up being one
of my-- my biggest songs
in terms of impact, you know?
 Are there any artists
with whom you had problems
in the past that you go,
I'm not going to play
these guys on my radio station?
- No, no.
I'm playing Kool Moe Dee.
I'm playing guys with
diss records about me
on the station.
- Really?
 Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, like Kool Moe Dee.
I play him all day.
Canibus.
You know, he got
Mike Tyson on the--
I'm playing it all.
I'm playing it all.
 Hi, I'm Jimmy Kimmel,
and this is the internet.
I made it myself.
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