When two employees enter a job, neither one of them should have a mindset of complacency inside of their head. There should always be a hunger to climb that corporate ladder, because no matter what your status is, if you’re not the head man in charge, you can be kicked right off.
If second fiddle is ok with you, then at least understand you should always have some level of paranoia about your status. Understand that no matter what you have done for your company if the right person wants you gone you can leave. So with that thought in hand you should know everything you need to know to keep your situation at float. If you fail at that, don’t blame others for your failures. Its doesn’t take a genius to figure it out; it’s just a common sense thing.After years of faithful service to Def Jam records, LL Cool J seems to be fed up and ready to leave. When asked why, he cited the current Def Jam president (Jay-Z) as his main reason. Saying, “How am I gonna re-sign with competition, I’m not an idiot. I can’t depend on that man to promote my record while he’s somewhere writing rhymes. ... I’m LL Cool J. I ain’t doing that, B.” Then just recently in the song “It’s a Queens Thing” he went on to throw some subliminals:
“I don’t slide like Usher, I don’t make no bands, I ain’t a frontin’ ass coward, I don’t rig Soundscan./ I wish Rick and Russell was back, I miss the old Def Jam. ‘Cause them new monkeys act like they don’t know who I am./ The promotion and marketing wasn’t worth a damn. /Now they on the balls again ‘cause 50’s my man? It’s a Queens’s thing, doofy; this is how we do…”.
After so many words being tossed in the Def Jam President’s direction from mister Todd Smith, its hard not to see that he may just be little bitter.
Lets think about it though, does he have a reason to be? LL’s first studio album came out in 1985, it is now the year 2007. Over those 22 years he has released 12 studio albums (including upcoming release Exit 13), won two Grammy awards, and has starred in several movies. Despite all of this success, LL has never introduced any artists, or even showed an interest in the industry outside of selling records. Like it or not this was one of the main reasons Jay-z was given the position of President and not him.
While one was taking his shirt off in countless videos and expanding towards an acting career, the other was building his empire, signing quality artists, and becoming a global icon. He has surpassed LL in almost every aspect of Hip-Hop. The nail in the coffin was him (Jay-z) being given the oh so glorified President position at Def Jam.
So now after his last album did less than stunning numbers, LL is angry all of a sudden and has a problem with Jay-Z? For a man of 39 years old who has been in the industry for over twenty years, and has such massive status why would you rely on another man to make your album sell?
LL is right when he says he is one of the best to ever do it, and he is the reason Def Jam made it through those infant stages, but this is 2007 and what he did for Def Jam is nothing but a fond memory. Other than his album sales he has not really brought in much revenue for the label nor has he shown that he can build revenue from anything other than himself.
He’s Hip Hop’s very own Jose Canseco, as he has the ability to hit a home run (when it comes to record sales) but other than that he’s pretty useless and as the years go by every power hitters’ numbers will diminish. Knowing this, why would Def Jam put in an exuberant amount of money into his album, seeing that it was the most poorly received album from LL since “14 Shots To the Dome”. With a general album consensus rating as low as 2/5, does that sound like a home run hit to you?
What is LL really angry at? Is he mad that, in less time, President Carter has the position that LL was promised so many years ago? If so he has no stable ground to stand on. Promises are broken everyday, credentials influence those in power, and these days ones’ money making abilities are the only thing that guarantee results in this industry.
Should Jay Z have given his last album more attention, better promotion, and a “Kingdom Come-like” marketing plan? Probably, but if your going to get a Kingdom Come” marketing plan you have to pull in Kingdom Come” numbers, and the last time Mr. Todd smith went double platinum it was 1997. Combine that with declining rap sales, and the marketing plan used on his album made sense financially. Its been a little over a year and the album “Todd Smith” has only managed to go gold. Those numbers have nothing to do with a marketing plan, but they speak volumes about his popularity.
Yes LL is bitter, but honestly from the facts stated above he really has no right. He’s not a superstar in the Soundscan, he has never really seem to show the corporate skill, or desire to be an executive, and to be quite frank his last album sucked. He did more for hip hop than any one that I can think of, because in all honesty if he does not sign with Def Jam, Jay might have never comes into, half of the people who are here now might not be where they are.
He had an eleven year head start and still managed to fall behind. Don’t get mad now, its too late. He had his chance, but opportunity sped right past him, and from what it looks like, he probably just licked his lips and left it be.
COMMENTS
First...I gotta say, I never been a LL fan but I never disliked him either. I respected he game but the article had a very good point, "if your going to get a Kingdom Come” marketing plan you have to pull in Kingdom Come” numbers, and the last time Mr. Todd smith went double platinum it was 1997."
Good article, props
good article
i don't think hip-hop was really LL's Focus until he realized he wasn't really needed in it anymore it could b hiz ego of he could b jealous who knows.
Good fukin article. I fux wit u on dis.
LL Cool J need to sit his old school ass dowm, i grow up on him, he was good back in th3 80's and early 90's but now the game is different; society change and you got to kick that crack for a person to come out there pocket and buy your stuff. LL is like a OG kingpin who got lock for 25 years, and now he out he mad cause he not eating, there different nigers on the block now LL you got to find another spot are buss your gun and stop bitching.
good article but i dont really agree with you. LL helped that label through rough times and really is owed by them. they could atleast give him some good marketing which isnt even a big deal. send out some fuckin posters or some shit
If you understood the article you would know that he credited LL for helping Def Jam out in its early years. And for the record LL had two videos out before his album dropped. If you know the business you would know that you are supposed to have one single out before the album to see how while it does, then after the album drops you put out another single. He was on the Tyra Banks show. He was on 106 n Park too. And performed a little here and there. Sounds like good promotion to me.
Good article.It's pretty much the same thing for the other artist on Def Jam who are mad about production budgets.Methodman was bitching crazy about not getting enough promotion, but who was checking for his album?And why wasn't Methodman trying to get out and promote his shit on his own, that's what hungry artist do.How can you blame Hov for your wack album that nobody was going to buy and you weren't putting in any promotion effort into.Hov isn't doing anything different then what most executive do on a yearly bases,he's getting rid of the dead weight.
I HOPE UR NOT REFERING 2 REDMAN OR METHODMAN OR LL AS DEAD WEIGHT?????
AND WITH THE METHOD MAN ALBUM DAT SHIT WAS SAD DEY DIDNT GIVE HIM NO TYPE OF PROMTION AT ALL I WAS SUPRISED DA SINGLE WAS OUT DEN I READ IN SOURCE HIS ALBUM BEEN OUT LIKE 2 WEEKS!!! I WAS LIKE WTF I DDINT SEE IT ON TV NOWHERE JUST SAD
LL COOL J WINING LIKE A BITCH THAT NIGGA WASHED UP WHO THE FUCK WOULD BY HIS CD?
LL is a superstar and has talent hes just too old for rappin now. but he can still to movies. jay z cant fuck wit him in movies though.
I noticed you don't like Jay by your dumb ass comments. This article is not about who's better at what. Somebody needs to make a Jay-z Hater thread so you could be the first to comment on it.
yeh Jay cant fuck with LL in movie's if i was L i would do like will smith and keep my ass in movie's cuz if you think about it will smith makin more money in movie's than any Rapper so he should just give up the rappin
Last I checked, LL movies aren't doing real big numbers, and Jay-Z is worth more then Will Smith.You can still make money off of Hip Hop and Hip Hop related ventures if you're smart.
Yeah I totally agree. Not that I would even put LL against Will Smith in the acting arena either but, it is what it is. Point blank, period. I mean yeah, he's a hip-hop icon and all that, he's goes down in history, but he's just that...history. He's just making it worse on himself by bitching about it. And if its been 10 years since he put out a platinum album, there's no blaming bad promotion. That's on him. His ego is hurt. But he's just gonna have to hang it.
man ll is that dude, defjam played him, word
Sometimes these artist don't no when to call it quits,LL wasn't going to sale good any way and we all no it.Ok he is one of the longest nukkas in the game to do it but that don't mean shit any more,Every artist has to put in their work to make their album sale Just because you was down for years don't mean they're going to promote heavy for your album.Ll has been in the game very long and he hasn't did anything really as far is show that he corp skills,What artist have he put on.LL has always been LL nothing more and nothing less.Def jam didn't play him he played himself by not doing shit other then just making his music.
ll is a loser, he definitely had a head start and his whole career had been surpassed by jay-z and even the man he begged to help make him popular again (50 cent), for none of the major motion pictures he's starred in has he as in ll earned more than 50 for get rich or die tryin... jim carey gets mandatory around 10 a flick, chris tucker around 15-20 mill a flick... ll i guarantee has not been paid more than a mill(and that's on the high and generous side for any one of his roles! ll need to go do some coke and stop bitchin, every time you see this nigga he gettin skinnier and skinnier, he must be nicole richies best friend!
get$
Jay hasn't brought in any money either..DAME DASH DID...so he really aint no better then LL
LL did make DEF JAM who they r. he lasted in tha game for 22 yrs. he took out cannibus,man i can go on!!!! yes, granted he has falling off, but still DEF JAM need to push his records more. JAY Z is scared off LL cause he know that if he gave him more mark/promo LL would break his ass. I've been a fan of LL's since i can't live without my radio. so i've seen tha decline in his sales.L just needs to bring back that flavour for US. TRUE HIPHOP HEADS NEED FOOD FOR OUR MINDS!!!!
Dude need to just call it quits.
SAY IT AGAIN MY BROTHER
LL IS A BUSTER. THE NIGGA DOIN MOVIES DOIN SHOWS, THEN HE WANNA GET JEOLOUS WHEN AN OFFICAIL RAPPER MOVES UP DOIN SUMTHIN WITH MUSIC. HE IS AN ALRIGHT KYRICIST BUT HE IS WASHED UP. THE HOTTEST RAP HE EVER RAP WAS A BATTLE TRACK THAT HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A VIDEO OR MAJOR PUSH FOR. HE'S DONE FOR. STICK A FORK IN HIM. ONLY CALL HIM FOR REMIXE'S AND TOURS WHERE YOUNG GIRLS ARE COMING. HE HAS TO STOP THE STEROIDS. iS HE SNIFFIN COKE?
very good article with some even better points. I just wanna see what happens when LL puts an album out on G-Unit in a few years. It will be funny to see what numbers he pulls and how 50 will treat him.It seems like it will end up being sort of how the whole Ma$e thing went down. And besides aren't 50 and Jay business partners
I'VE BEEN SAYIN THE SAME SINCE HE MADE COMMENT ABOUT NOT RE SIGNING WITH DEFJAM ON TV. LL WAS OUT LONG BEFORE NAS, FIFTY AND A LOT OF OTHER QUEENS MC'S AND RAPPERS AND DIDN'T PUT ANYBODY ON. LL IS A SELFISH BASTARD WHO WASTED YEARS NOW HE'S MAD CUZ JAY SURPASSED HIM. EMINEM SHOULDN'T HAVE TO COME FROM DETROIT TO PUT ON A NIGGA FROM THE SAME HOOD AS LEGEND LIKE LL. THATS HOW LL COULD HAVE GIVEN BACK AND BUILT A QUEENS EMPIRE.
I respect LL. He's been around for a minute and he's still nice. But him being mad at Jay is ridiculous. I mean, he has been in the game twice as long as Jay-Z and you mean to tell me that you're relying on him to go Plat??? That's lil odd to me. In them lines he tried to clear it up by saying that he wasn't talkin' bout Jay specifically, but who knows with all that going on over there. As far as hip hop, Jay-Z surpassed LL flat out. LL still got that acting career though!!!! LOL
LL CALL IT QUIT'S!!!!
HANG IT UP L, YOUR TIME WAS UP 10 YEARS AGO AFTER THE SONG YOU DID WITH TOTAL!!!!
Off topic:
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but shout out to everyone who's dealin' with the Midwest/Down South flooding situation... that's messed up, man... OK, KS, FL, TX, and MO, covered in flood waters... I hope y'all get through that some way.
That's real
Ha! I JUST NOW read this "editorial"... and that's all I have 2 say... As Jokesta and I discussed months back, editorials are... well... er.. editorials! And I'll leave that @ that! ... back 2 the news!
LL is a legend...hands down...respect bitches!
he has been in da game for ages n he deserves respect but i do tink he should call it quits
ll is still that dude. www.myspace.com/iamhectic im the rican LL
Anybody saying fuck LL dont even know Hip Hop! LL made DefJam i feel they really disrespected him! jay Z dont know what he doing! Niggaz on defjam is washed up! But bottom line LL stick with movies there's more money in that!
CO-SIGN SOMEBODY PLZ TELL ME WHAT BIG DEF JAM ARTIST JAY HAS DISCOVERED AND HE HAS BECAME A SUPERSTAR???
I LOVE THIS ARTICLE!!!!
Most importantly:
"He had an eleven year head start and still managed to fall behind. Don’t get mad now, its too late. He had his chance, but opportunity sped right past him, and from what it looks like, he probably just licked his lips and left it be."
~Be Eazy!
um LL cool J has years of hits he's the realest legend left in the game! REAL TALK!
Real talk is that you need a picture without a salvation army coat on
true stories wiz101
^^Wiz your most importantly was real deal dude. But hahaha man ive seen that picture with the fish before but the little Jay Z clip art touch really did it for me.
ll is the goat!!!!!! he got he's reason to be mad when u got jay z promotin his album more then everybody on the label put together,,,its the rocafela all over again!!!!!!
Exit 13 will go platinum bet on it
Yea...LL needs to let it go.
all i can say is LL needs to get his mind checked , his been in the game long enough to know that promotion is not only down to the record company alone. He could have done what other artist have done its called "self promotion". Look at Luda he was over here in the UK doin shows all over tv etc you don't see LL out here. He then goes and signs with g unit as if 50 and them cant compete wit him come on 50 will out sell LL in seconds( and am not even a 50 fan but the truth hurts). I also heard dude was offered all his publish but he refused ho dum is that. Its time to stop crying cause your dropped your dummy and start enterprising LL built an empire just like cube,jay,dre,snoop,diddy and 50
just had to get that off my chest
peace
He should have bounced a long time ago!