Technology can be a sight to see, especially in this case, when it’s a site honoring a Hip-Hop great.

LL COOL J will be honored in his hometown of Queens, New York with a new solar-powered bronze statue per reports from OkayPlayer.

The rapper, born James Todd Smith, will be preserved in the likeness of his debut 1980s era and will be located in the middle of David Dinkins Circle located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Going Back To The Meadows

Sculptor Sherwin Banfield is a Trinidadian-born, Queens-raised artist responsible for designing sculptures for legendary artists like Jam Master J, Phife Dawg, and Prodigy for the Queens Public Library in 2019.

His latest work, titled “Going Back To The Meadows,” is a bronze statue of Hip-Hop royalty LL COOL J and will feature a solar-powered audio function that will play music between the hours of noon and 5 p.m. weekly with the exclusion of Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

The statue also includes a pedestal frame equipped with nods to the massive career of the 53-year-old Hip-Hop icon.

Creating A Masterpiece

Banfield began sculpting “Going Back to the Meadows” back in 2020 as a part of the Governor’s Island Residency initiative.

He took to Instagram to further explain what went into creating the new body of art.

“Using traditional techniques of modeling clay and a multitude of reference photographs, I created my artistic interpretation of LL, a collaboration of facial stages emerging from an anatomical foundation,” he explained in the post. ”Using my years of lessons in [the] study of ancient Kemetic statues, Greco Roman and Italian Renaissance masters, I strived to model the essence, strength, fortitude, sensitivity, and determination of LL into this portrait bust,” Banfield wrote. “Each application and modification of clay is a thought that accumulates to the finished portrait, like the selected notes of a musician that conclude to a song.. the final product is relatable and recognizable.. not a duplication of nature’s gift, but an interpretation.”

To check it out, head to the Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens whenever you’re in the New York area.