LL Cool J is behind Swizz Beatz's Hip Hop Founders Fund idea "100%," and will gladly be contributing to the initiative that will serve to give back to rap's earliest trailblazers. Earlier this week, Swizz proposed the idea some of the current players in hip hop should band together to donate $1 million each to every artist that "paved the way" for hip hop, such as "Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash, and Sugar Hill Gang." Swizz elaborated on this idea while talking with LL Cool J on his SiriusXM radio show, Rock The Bells, where he ultimately got complete support from the host for the "Hip Hop Founders Fund."
“I mentioned something about giving back to the pioneers of hip hop and everybody just went crazy," Swizz explained. "Most misunderstood me, but what I was saying was this is something I wanna do. Period. I want to start a pioneer fund with the founders of hip hop getting taken care of. The founders of hip hop shouldn’t need medical. They should be in a great situation. If you look at other cultures and other pioneers that started things, they’re living well. I feel personally that it’s a bad representation on hip hop that our pioneers are not being supported in a major way.”
"Let’s come up with a plan to take care of the founders of hip hop," he continued. "It’s our duty to do it. Everybody don’t have to do it…Imma do it. To see these icons living and we’re living at the same time and we know better at this point…we gotta take care of those guys.”
"I couldn’t be more on board than I am," LL told Swizz. "I’m in the helm of this shit laying with you. It’s that vibe. It’s about paying it forward. I learned early on in my career it was about me, but you get humbled and you realize, ‘There’s a bigger world out there than you.' I would 100 percent contribute to that, 100 percent. Because I think it’s necessary. It’s the right spirit. It’s the right heart. It’s love. It’s evolved.”
What do you think about the idea of a Hip Hop Founders Fund?