LL COOL J: How I Became The Role Model I Never Had | GREAT MOMENTS

If you want to talk about legends, look no further than the one and only LL Cool J. As one of the first rappers to reach commercial success, LL Cool J paved the way for the next generation, inspiring huge artists like Eminem and Fat Joe. But his journey to success was far from easy. In this Great Moment, LL Cool J shares why he believes making music was his calling and the importance of creating the role models he never had when he was younger. Listen to the full episode HERE! If you enjoyed the show, you can also follow us: Instagram-@greatcompanypodcast https://www.instagram.com/greatcompanypodcast/# TikTok -@greatcompanypodcast https://open.acast.com/networks/611e511b4ec6dc00134bced2/shows/65d737dfdc02e00016c413b2/episodes/www.tiktok.com/@greatcompanypodcast And if you've got thoughts, questions and comments, you can email us at: [email protected] THE CREDITS Producer: Helen Burke Assistant Producer: Issy Weeks-Hankins Video: Josh Bennett Social Media: Laura Coughlan Exec Producer: Ewan Newbigging-Lister & Jemima Rathbone Great Company is an original podcast from JamPot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  I've got big news. I switched to Verizon and got the new iPhone 18 Pro. Shh. I can keep my old phone and I also get the latest iPhone every year. Shh, anything else? Verizon let me choose Apple Watch Series 12 or iPad on them.

• 0:13Speaker 01

  Everybody, listen up.

• 0:14Speaker 00

  Shh. Switch to Verizon and get the new iPhone 18 Pro now. No trade in needed and the latest iPhone every year with Simplicity Plan. Plus, choose Apple Watch Series 12 or iPad on us. Simplicity Plan with Simplicity Pro required. Plan and device payment purchase are separate agreements with separate terms. Service plan for watch or iPad required. Additional terms apply for all offers.

• 0:30Speaker 02

  Business is booming. Is your fulfillment ready for peak season? Switch to ShipStation now and handle more volume with confidence when it counts. ShipStation connects Shopify, Amazon, TikTok Shop and over 200 more integrations with one platform that does it all. You can manage orders, sync inventory, track returns, all automatically. Everything your operation needs, all in one place. Right now, qualified shippers get a real dedicated person to get you set up and switched over for free. So when peak season hits, you're ready to go. Switch today at shipstation.com code AUDIO.

• 1:00Speaker 03

  When your workday is constantly disrupted, your workflow isn't flowing. It's come to a grinding halt. You don't need an assistant, you need superpowers. Superhuman Go from the makers of Grammarly is built for how you actually work. No new tabs, no switching apps, no losing your place. Go handles busy work like finding documents or summarizing email threads so you can focus on the work only you can do. Try Superhuman Go from the makers of Grammarly. Find out more at superhuman.com.

• 1:35Jamie Laing?

  Hello, everyone. I'm Jamie Lang and this is Great Moments.

• 1:42Jamie Laing?

  Hey, everyone. I hope you're well and welcome back to Great Moments. Now, if you're new here, this is the place where I'm going to bring you a standout moment from one of my favorite great company conversations. These are the moments that have stayed with me long after the recording and I hope you can take something away from them. Now, if today's conversation leaves you wanting more, you can find the link to the full episode in the show notes. So, sit back, settle in, and here it is.

• 2:08Jamie Laing?

  I need to get into your mind when you're like a kid, right?

• 2:10Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 2:11Jamie Laing?

  You're like the OG. And we're talking to my team. The team, I can't tell you, are so, especially Jacob, he's so excited, he can't. And we're talking about what you've done and what you created. And it's amazing and staying relevant for so long. Where did your creative genius come from? Truthfully, where do you think?

• 2:34Speaker 05

  You have to have, you have to love what you do and have the ability to do it.

• 2:40Jamie Laing?

  Okay.

• 2:41Speaker 05

  So, it's like, it's like, I don't care how many schools you put me in. I was never going to play soccer like Messi. It just was not going to happen. I wear a size 14, it's ridiculous, tripping over myself. It was never going to happen. There's no universe where I could see that happening. There's no, you know what I mean? So, what am I saying? I'm saying that, I was just telling somebody earlier, if you, it's one thing to roll a dice on swimming the English Channel, but you better know how to swim. You could talk that LeBron talk, you could talk about you playing basketball all you want, but LeBron was born to do it. I would argue that not every guy who made it that far was born to do it. He was born to do it. Jordan was born to do it. Kobe, Messi was born to do it.

• 3:26Speaker 05

  Like, there are guys that were just, you know what I mean? Were born to do what they do. And I think that that kind of is the difference. And now, how do you find that thing? You find it because you follow your passion and what you're truly inspired to do and then you learn all you can about the thing that you're truly inspired to do. And you consistently educate yourself in the area of your inspiration. A lot of people don't do that. A lot of people are afraid to follow that internal North Star inside of them. You know what I'm saying?

• 3:55Jamie Laing?

  Yeah, but Alan, most people don't follow purpose because they feel like they're too, like you said, they're too scared to do it.

• 4:00Speaker 05

  But you just, you heard what you just said?

• 4:01Jamie Laing?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. And I totally hear, but they are too scared to do it because typically following your passion, it comes with like a lot of risk.

• 4:08Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 4:08Jamie Laing?

  Like so much risk.

• 4:09Speaker 05

  But this is the, this is why people love sports, right? You can't win the World Cup unless you risk losing the World Cup.

• 4:18Jamie Laing?

  So, what do you risk?

• 4:21Speaker 05

  Every time I put a project out, people could say it's trash. People could say it's stupid. Every time I put a film out, it could flop. Every time I put a, anything you do, there's a, there's a chance that the public is going to not like it. Everything I've done, I'm not even bad a thousand. I've had things that were panned, things that people hated. And you know what? It didn't stop me from moving forward. It didn't stop me because I did it sincerely. Maybe it didn't hit the mark and I kept it moving. I kicked at the goal, it didn't go in the net. I kept playing. I shot the shot, it bounced off the rim or I missed it completely. I kept going. It's like Kobe back in the days. He shot those shots and airballs, you keep going. So, it's like, that's the thing. I think people get caught up in the idea, a lot of people get caught up in the idea

• 5:06Speaker 05

  of figuring out how they're going to do something perfectly so as to never have to suffer any sort of criticism. And that's like a huge mistake because you're, you're basically letting the world dictate to you whether or not you're going to pursue your dreams.

• 5:26Jamie Laing?

  But it's that resilience, right? You've got to have that resilience. You get knocked down eight times, you get, you get up 10. You've just got to keep going, you've got to keep going. And we don't have that in us. We stay in like a safe lane because we're too scared.

• 5:37Speaker 05

  Right, and live a life of quiet desperation, right?

• 5:39Jamie Laing?

  True.

• 5:39Speaker 05

  I think it was Thoreau who said that. You live, men live in quiet lives of desperation because they're not willing to go out and venture out on the road, less traveled, you know what I'm saying? And go after that thing that is that they want, you know what I'm saying? So, to me, you gotta, you gotta go after that thing you want.

• 5:57Jamie Laing?

  But where did you learn that from? Was that your mom? Was that your grandma? Where was it from?

• 6:01Speaker 05

  So, yes, my mother, my grandmother, you know, my grandmother used to always tell me, if a task is once begun, never leave it till it's done. Be thy labor, great or small, do it well or not at all.

• 6:10Jamie Laing?

  Say that one more time.

• 6:11Speaker 05

  If a task is once begun, never leave it till it's done. Be thy labor, great or small, do it well or not at all. And my grandfather was like, you know, this is a guy who shined shoes, then worked at an airport as a baggage handler and then went to school for engineering. So, one minute, you know, and my mother like put all of her energy into me and worked two jobs and, you know, was, was, was shot and then said she would never walk again. And she walked again. So, you're around a lot of people that, that resilience comes with it.

• 6:50Jamie Laing?

  Your stepfather was pretty abusive to you.

• 6:53Speaker 05

  Yeah, he was.

• 6:54Jamie Laing?

  And your dad, obviously you, you made up with him, but male role models in your life seem to not really align to maybe what they should have been.

• 7:06Speaker 05

  I hear you.

• 7:08Jamie Laing?

  So, how do you find your blueprint to be a good dad, a good husband, a good person as you clearly are?

• 7:15Speaker 05

  Because there's plenty of examples in the world.

• 7:17Jamie Laing?

  So, who's your?

• 7:18Speaker 05

  You have to make your own. You have to make a, like, what I've learned is that, like, I'll give you an example. You know how G, like how Bruce Lee developed Jeet Kune Do by taking various martial arts forms and putting them all together? A little Wing Chun, a little American boxing, you know what I'm saying? A little Jiu-Jitsu, a little of the Judo, a little of this and that. He put it all together and made, you know, the way of the intercepting fists. He made his own martial art out of that. So, you can look at this particular artist and this particular athlete and this particular person and that particular person and say, oh, I like the way he treats that, that, and I like the way he does that, and I like the way this person does that. And then you make your own life and you figure it out. You know what I'm saying? Like, listen.

• 7:58Jamie Laing?

  Yeah, I love that.

• 7:59Speaker 05

  You know what I mean?

• 8:00Jamie Laing?

  It's like a pick and mix.

• 8:01Speaker 05

  Yeah. Amalgam, is it amalgamation?

• 8:03Jamie Laing?

  Amalgamation, yeah.

• 8:04Speaker 05

  Yeah. It's an amalgamation of many people. You know what I'm saying? And then you decide, you know, what you're going to do.

• 8:10Jamie Laing?

  Because also you, you then recognize what other people have as faults, right? So, you kind of go, I don't like this, I don't like that, here we go, I'm going to be this person. And you then don't idolize just one person.

• 8:19Speaker 05

  That's right. Like, I'll give you an example. So, like, like, growing up, like, I, you know, when I was in my early teens, mid teens, early teens, formative years, all the way to early twenties, I was in Harlem running around with guys that they make movie, gangster movies about. I'm running around, but it's like, I'm not looking at the hustling aspects of it. I see that, but I'm looking at the kindness. I'm looking at the, oh, you know, it's funny how a lot of tough guys I knew, they were the most gentlemen. They were gentlemen. Oh, give a, give a homeless guy, give him a 50 or give this guy, like, take care of this guy or, you know, it's the tough guy that I learned how to, see, the thing you learn, especially for me, Queens, New York, growing up, where I grew up, is you learn how important manners are.

• 9:04Speaker 05

  And you learn how important being a gentleman is. And you learn how important, you know, when you don't walk around with your chest poked out, you have a better chance of surviving in the community.

• 9:13Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 9:13Speaker 05

  It's the guys that want to be tough guys and want to be selfish and want to be, you know, like, I remember a long time ago, this guy got really angry at me. He, he said to me, he said, you know, why don't you come up out of the store with one of them 40s or something, man? You know what I'm saying? And he was, um, he was an older guy. And, you know, he got, I, I kind of felt like he was trying to press me a little bit. That's the way I took it, so I didn't, I didn't get it for him. And then he wanted to fight and then one of my dudes came, was like, yo, blah, blah, blah, stopped him, right? You know, calmed him down. But the thing is, when I think about it, it's like, I learned after that, that sometimes it probably would have been better to say, yo. Enjoy your beer, man. Give him some love.

• 9:59Speaker 05

  Cause he wasn't, you know what I'm saying, like, it's just.

• 10:01Jamie Laing?

  Funny you remember that as well.

• 10:03Speaker 05

  Yeah, you know what I'm saying, like, you just remember those lessons about being a gentleman and about sharing. I'm not talking about sharing where people are pressing you or extorting or doing anything where you're being weak. I'm talking about man, like a real manly love where you share with people in a certain way. But when you do it like that, you know what I'm saying, life is better for you. Especially when we grow up in tough environments, like, you know, this is the UK, like, people out here can relate to what I'm saying.

• 10:29Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 10:29Speaker 05

  Dudes in the street especially know what I'm talking about. You know what I'm saying?

• 10:32Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 10:33Speaker 05

  It's like, you know.

• 10:34Jamie Laing?

  I like it.

• 10:35Speaker 05

  Sharing and all that, you learn just, you know what I'm saying?

• 10:38Jamie Laing?

  So when do you, so when do you feel most comfortable? Cause I spoke to lots of performers and people and artists, and lots of people feel most comfortable on stage, but it feels like you feel most comfortable with yourself, with a book, whatever it is, where do you feel most comfortable?

• 10:49Speaker 05

  Both places.

• 10:50Jamie Laing?

  Really?

• 10:50Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah. Because especially when you're talking about the stage and all of that, because there's a purpose to that. Sometimes, you know, with the other stuff, you just have to be mindful. I'll give you an example. A lot of people work jobs. And they're like, especially back in the day, a lot of people work remotely now, but for those who go to the office. You have some people, you know, you show up on Monday. And now I gotta sit here with you for three hours and tell you what I did all weekend. I don't feel like doing that. You know, like, I don't wanna talk to you about my entire, yeah, so what did you do at noon on Friday? What did you do at one thirty and how was two thirty and three thirty and what did you do at? It's, it's so, that's the part of being introvert, you just wanna be like, yo, how was your weekend? It's good, man. Yeah, yeah, all good, how was yours?

• 11:35Speaker 05

  You know, okay. Like, right there, like, like, like, not because I'm, just stop, right there. It is just like, some people.

• 11:43Jamie Laing?

  Hate me on the weekend.

• 11:44Speaker 05

  Yo, bro, yo, bro, and there's some people like, yo, hey, how was your weekend? Yeah, what you doing? Yeah, we went to this restaurant, yeah, what you eat? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, why, why'd you choose that? Yeah, yeah, did you like it? Yeah, yeah, would you recommend it? It's just like, you know, bro, it just gets, you know, so that's the part where you get a little, so it's, it's.

• 12:04Jamie Laing?

  But there's a big question that, that then what do you, because that's like a question between being comfortable with who you are.

• 12:09Speaker 05

  Mm-hmm.

• 12:10Jamie Laing?

  And kind of not comfortable with who you are. I definitely, it is just true though.

• 12:14Speaker 05

  I'm okay with that.

• 12:14Jamie Laing?

  You're, but you're.

• 12:15Speaker 05

  Very comfortable with that.

• 12:16Jamie Laing?

  You're comfortable with being you.

• 12:18Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 12:19Jamie Laing?

  You are, you're, because you can sit there, you can sit in silence, you can say a question, you can sit there and be happy with it. So where does that comfortability for, for yourself come from?

• 12:28Speaker 05

  I don't know.

• 12:29Jamie Laing?

  That's a big question.

• 12:30Speaker 05

  Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I got faith in me, I got faith in a high power, faith in God, I got faith in, I, I grew up in a house full of books, bro. I mean, you just, you know, my mother and my grandmother is like, yeah. It's like, oh, okay.

• 12:44Jamie Laing?

  No way.

• 12:45Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, just, you know, I grew up, like, they used to get these things called the World Book of Knowledge back in the days. You know what I'm saying, you get the World Book of Knowledge, I'm sitting there, oh, so in, you know, there's a volcano and, you know. You know, you just learn all this, you know, Mount Fuji, like, you know, the other day, I'm looking at, oh, Mount Fuji didn't have snow for, you know, first time, first October in a century. Like, you just become like, you know what I'm saying, like, just having a good time with it, you know what I'm saying, with life, and so you just kind of.

• 13:14Jamie Laing?

  So you were just interested in getting knowledge, you just like to gain all of that knowledge, you read books because that.

• 13:19Speaker 05

  Curious.

• 13:20Jamie Laing?

  Ah.

• 13:21Speaker 05

  Curious, because curia, listen, if you're truly curious and you really enjoy books and you really enjoy reading and you really enjoy doing that kind of stuff, you go on journeys, man.