Born in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York, James Todd Smith grew up in the working-class neighborhood of St. Albans, Queens, as the only child of James Smith, Jr. and Ondrea Smith -- Todd, as he would be known.
He would spend his youth singing in the church choir, participating in the Boy Scouts and delivering paper as a paperboy. Unfortunately, LL's parents had a troublesome, often violent, relationship. As a result, his mother left his father when LL was four and they moved in with her parents in St.
The relationship turned bloody, when late one night in 1972, his father shot his mother after she returned home from work. According to LL Cool J, who recounted the event in the song "Father" from his album, the elder James was seeking revenge after being abandoned by his family. LL's father shot his mother as she ran into her parents' house for safety.
She was hit in the legs and back. LL's grandfather was also shot in the stomach. Both survived the attack.
LL's mother later began dating a man who would also bring much pain into the young rapper's life. The man, whom LL named Roscoe in his autobiography, would routinely beat him, often while his mother was at work. These beatings had a profound effect on young LL.
He stated that around this time he began compulsively wearing hats. LL found that hip hop music and rapping were ways of escaping his problems. He grew up in a musical family; his grandfather played tenor saxophone, his mother played accordion and his grandmother, Ellen Griffith, sang in the choir.
By age 11, LL was rapping, and by the age of 12, he had made his first studio recording. LL Cool J lived in North Babylon, Long Island, New York with his mother in his junior high years Born in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York, James Todd Smith grew up in the working-class neighborhood of St.
News RSS