LL Cool J has made it known that he never entered the music industry for the sake of money, but he fully believes in equity.
During an interview with “The Breakfast Club,” the music legend recalled having a deep passion for rapping from a young age and signing with Def Jam Recordings to kick off his career at age 16. Before it became an official label and he was one of the first signees, it was only a production company.
“That first contract, at the time, we split the publishing,” LL Cool J told hosts Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy. “They gave me like $50,000. My first single I ever made I didn’t have a contract.”
He continued, “It was just like, ‘Yo, let’s go get it and we’ll figure it out.’ Sometimes you gotta be willing to crawl over the barbed wire fence with no shirt on to get what you want.”
LL Cool J signed a 10-album deal including “Radio,” “Mama Said Knock You Out,” and “10.” With the impact he made under Def Jam, he revealed that he had equity in the label. Additionally, he went into detail about the numerous ventures that he has ownership of.
“I did have equity in Def Jam,” he said. “I just sold it a little early.”
He added, “I had ownership in FUBU. I have ownership in ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ and ‘Lip Sync Battle.’ I own my catalog.”
“NCIS: Los Angeles” ran for 14 seasons while “Lip Sync Battle” had five seasons. As previously shared by AfroTech, LL Cool J opened up about owning the exclusive rights to every one of his albums during an interview on “Sway’s Universe.”
“I’ve owned them for 20-something years,” he said. “So when you hear ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ in a movie and stuff like that, like, I’ve licensed those songs… I own all them joints.”
