LL Cool J Calls Himself 'the Most Important Rapper to Have Ever Existed'

LL Cool J is not holding back when it comes to his thoughts on who the most important rapper of all time is -- because according to him, it's actually him.

In a conversation with Apple Music's Le Code, LL was asked about the possibility of a movie being based off his career. This sent the rapper into a rant as to why he declares himself the most influential rapper of all time.

"I think that one day people are going to wake up and realize LL Cool J is the most important rapper that ever existed. I truly believe one day people will say that," he said.

He then went on to break down the areas that he thinks classifies him as the all-time great.

"They're going to look and say, 'Wow when it comes to the jewelry, this is the guy that introduced all the ice and the jewelry and the champagne.' They're going to say when it comes to the love songs, they're going to say, 'This is the guy that introduced the love songs and all the love sh-t,'" LL began.

"When it comes to the bad boy vibe, they're going to realize that this is the guy who introduced all the bad boy vibes before it was done. When it comes to the G.O.A.T terminology, 'This is the guy who came up with all the G.O.A.T stuff.' They're going to say when it comes to Def Jam ... 'Wow this is the first artist that was on Def Jam,'" he continued.

LL went on to cite his work when he became one of the first rap artists to reach a global audience, popularized endorsements and pursued multiple passions at once while acting on TV while still putting out music.

However, he shied away from being called the G.O.A.T.

"There are too many rappers that have done too many important things for me to claim that I'm the one," he explained.

LL's latest remarks come after revealed in an interview with Capital XTRA Breakfast that Phife Dawg encouraged the rapper to make a return to music.

"He came to me in a dream, and he was like, 'Oh, this is going to be dope. This album could be crazy. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.' It was a weird dream, because I was working on another album at the time, but when he came to me, when I woke up, I just decided to call Q-Tip and put the other thing on hold," he said.

His latest album is called The Frequencies of Real Creative Energy or F.O.R.C.E. and was released in September of this year to critical praise.

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LL Cool J, Music