LL Cool J

While starring in In the House, LL Cool J appeared in 3 public service announcements for NBC's The More You Know. His topics were violence prevention, drug abuse, and stay in school.

LL is one of the few hip-hop artist to have sold over 20 million albums in his career.

LL was recently honored at the 2nd Annual VH1 Hip-Hop Honors.

LL co-hosted the 2001 American Music Awards.

5 of LL's albums have gone Gold; "14 Shots To The Dome", "G.O.A.T.", "10", "The DEFinition" and "Todd Smith".

LL's albums' "Radio", "Walking with A Panther", "All World: Greatest Hits" and "Phenomenon" all went platinum.

LL's albums "Bigger and Deffer", "Mama Said Knock You Out" and "Mr. Smith" all went double platinum.

LL is usually seen wearing a Kangol hat.

LL was the only child of James and Ondrea Smith.

He collaborated on two songs with J-Lo. The first one, titled "All I Have", appears on J-Lo's album "This is me...Then". The second one, titled "Control Myself", appears on LL's album "Todd Smith".

LL starred in the movie "Last Holiday". He played Sean Matthews, Queen Latifah's boyfriend.

LL co-starred in the movie "S.W.A.T." along with Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell and Michelle Rodriguez.

LL astrological sign is Capricorn.

LL is 6'1" tall.

LL was paid $1,000,000 for his role in Rollerball.

LL Cool J: Keeping it real ain't about carrying a gun or smoking blunts. It's about being true to yourself and those around you.

He grew up in a musical family, his grandfather played tenor sax, his mother played accordion and his grandmother sang in the choir. By age 9 he was already rhyming and by 13 he'd already made his first studio recording.

LL found that hip-hop music and rapping were ways of escaping his problems with his family growing up.

As a youngster he sang in the church choir, played football and was in the Boy Scouts.

He has previously worked in fashion, having been behind the scenes for T.R.O.O.P., a nonfashion, insider hip-hop line in the late-Eighties.

LL is launching his own clothingline this fall called "Todd Smith", which is aimed towards the higher-end market and a less expensive range will be released along called "T.S".

In 1996 LL helped to launch a clothing line named "FUBU"; the name is an acronym for "For Us, By Us", meaning that the clothes were made for and marketed to black people by a black person.

In 2003 he won the Quincy Jones Award, for "outstanding career achievements in the field of entertainment" at the Soul Train Music Awards.

He's won 2 MTV Video Music Awards, in 1990 the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video for "Mama Said Knock You Out" and in 1997 the MTV Video Music Vanguard Award for "career achievement".

Bob Dylan has admitted to being a fan of LL Cool J and played a track by LL on his radio show.

ABC hired him for its pregame music during their coverage of the 2003 NBA Finals.

In 1993 LL started his own music label called P.O.G. or Power Of God.

LL was turned down from Tommy Boy Records and Sugar Hill Records before being signed with Def Jam Records.

Bruce Lee is LL's inspiration and influence for doing movies.

LL was originally in the film "Rugrats Go Wild!" as the voice of a Piki doll, but his character was cut from the film.

LL performed with the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the song "I Make My Own Rules".

LL has written songs for other rappers like Run-D.M.C. including their hit "Can You Rock it Like This".

LL has lyrically battled with Jay-Z and Jaz-O at an industrial party early on in his career.

He has had rivalries with MC Shan, Ice-T, MC Hammer, Kool Moe Dee, Wyclef Jean, Jamie Foxx & Canibus. He has also shown his disapproval of Mike Tyson and Naomi Campbell in his songs, "The Ripper Strikes Back" and "Rasta Imposta".

LL has been seen at Republican Party fundraisers and was a supporter of New York Governor George Pataki in the past.

He was a paperboy before his rap career took off.

He was the first rap artist on the MTV Unplugged series.

He was named the 10th greatest hip-hop MC of all time by MTV.

Born James Todd Smith.

Has four children; Najee (b. 1989), Italia (b. 1990), Samaria (b. 1995), and Nina Simone (b. 2000).

He was the first artist signed to the Def Jam label in 1984 and released the underground hit "I Need a Beat" which was the first hit record for Def Jam.

LL Cool J is the author of two books with the children-oriented book called "And The Winner Is..." and his autobiography co-written with Karen Hunter, "I Make My Own Rules" released in 1997.

Nominated for NAACP Image Award as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy series three times (1996-98) for his work on "In the House". Also nominated as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture in 2000 for "Deep Blue Sea". Also in 1996 and 97 in Best Rap Artist, for "Mr. Smith", in 2001 Outstanding Hip-Hop/Rap Artist, for "G.O.A.T." and 2003 for Outstanding Male Artist.

LL has recorded twelve albums, "Radio" (1985), "Bigger and Deffer" (1987), "Walking With a Panther" (1989), "Mama Said Knock You Out" (1990), "14 Shots to the Dome" (1993), "Mr. Smith" (1995), "All World" (1996), "Phenomenon" (1997), "G.O.A.T." (2000), "10" (2002), "The DEFinition" (2004) and his most recent "Todd Smith" (2006).