by Jeroslyn JoVonn
September 13, 2024
LL Cool J would’ve never gotten his start in music had it not been for the drum machine his mother bought for him.
LL Cool J is one of the greats in hip-hop. But he would’ve never gotten his start in music had it not been for the drum machine his mother bought for him.
The hip-hop veteran, real name James Todd Smith, has a new album honoring his 40-year rap career. The Force features a song called “Post Modern,” in which he raps about the significance of one tax refund his mother, Ondrea Smith, used to make the first investment in her son’s burgeoning music career.
“My mother took her tax return and invested it. She bet it on her kid and look at what he did with it. 2,000 in ’84 that’s a 100,000 x multiple from keepin’ you on the floor,” he raps.
During his recent appearance on Sway in the Morning, LL explained the purpose of including the line in his new song and how his mother impacted his entrance into hip-hop, which was a new music genre at the time.
“Here’s this Black woman who worked really hard, who got a tax return—and just for the record—the majority of people with a lot of money don’t like tax season,” he explained. “So if you like tax season, you got some work to do and that’s OK…So, my mother loved tax season. My mother said, ‘Yo, I’m going to get my tax return.’ She had other things to do.”
The rapper/actor recalled all the rejection letters he received when he was trying to get his career started and would send out demo tapes to a variety of labels, including Sugar Hill Records.
“My mother found a letter and she came in there, and I’m in the room and I’m just sulking…and she’s like, ‘What’s wrong?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t have no equipment. I can’t make my music right,’” LL Cool J said.
“So she just happened to get her tax return and she went, she said, ‘What kind of drum machine do you want?’ She surprised me, she went and bought me one. She bought me the wrong one, but she bought me one.”
Once LL had the drum machine, he went on to record his debut single, “I Need A Beat.” The demo tape eventually fell on the desk of Rick Rubin, who was starting Def Jam Records with Russell Simmons. After giving LL’s demo a listen, he became an instant believer and offered the then-16-year-old rapper a recording contract: a $50,000 check and split publishing rights.
LL released his first album in 1985, which included his hit “I Can’t Live Without My Radio.” He was the first rap artist to get more than 10 consecutive platinum-plus-selling albums. He went on to release many hip-hop classics, including “Radio,” “Mama Said Knock You Out,” “Doin’ It,” Loungin’,” and “Around The Way Girl.”
“That’s ’cause my mother with her tax return. My mother, I love her so much, and that was [an]incredible moment for me,” he told Sway.
