LL Cool J says that Dr. Dre had signed on to produce his upcoming album; however, after Phife Dawg visited him in a dream, LL Cool J contacted Q-Tip. He explained how the collaboration came to be during an appearance on Way Up With Angela Yee.
“So, the real story is that I did about 30 to 40 songs with Dr. Dre, and in doing those songs I felt like — the music was amazing what Dre was bringing to the table was super dope — but I felt like the writing, what I was bringing to these songs didn’t feel strong enough to me,” he explained. “I didn’t feel like I was expressing, I was getting out of me, what I was feeling. In my mind, I didn’t feel like it was written properly.”
LL Cool J & Dr. Dre At The 2000 Radio Music Awards
From there, LL Cool J elaborated on his dream with the late Phife Dawg. “So, I took a pause. Me and Dre just kinda paused for a minute. And I ended up having a dream, and in this dream Phife Dawg from A Tribe Called Quest came to me,” he added. “When he came in my dream he was like ‘Yo, that album you gonna do with Dre is gonna be dope.’ And I’m looking at him and he’s smirking a little bit. He had a funny look on his face. And then when I woke up, I just felt like Q-Tip was on my spirit. So I just called him. He picked up and I told him that I wanted to do an album. We went and did the record and the rest is history.”
LL Cool J On His Upcoming Album
The new album will be LL Cool J's first full-length effort since 2013's Authentic and will coincide with the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. While he's kept details on the project close to his chest, a recent report from AllHipHop noted that Eminem, Nas, Fat Joe, Rick Ross, and Saweetie will all feature on the album.
[Via]