By StephanieLee Elliott
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip hop acts Beastie Boys and Run-DMC.
Signed to Def Jam Recordings in 1984, LL Cool J’s breakthrough came with his single “I Need a Beat” and his landmark debut album, Radio (1985). He achieved further commercial and critical success with the albums Bigger and Deffer (1987), Walking with a Panther (1989), Mama Said Knock You Out (1990), Mr. Smith (1995), and Phenomenon (1997). His twelfth album, Exit 13 (2008), was his last in his long-tenured deal with Def Jam.
LL Cool J has appeared in numerous films, including Halloween H20, In Too Deep, Any Given Sunday, Deep Blue Sea, S.W.A.T., Mindhunters, Last Holiday, and Edison. He played NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna in the CBS crime drama television series NCIS: Los Angeles. LL Cool J was also the host of Lip Sync Battle on Paramount Network.
A two-time Grammy Award winner, LL Cool J is known for hip hop songs such as “Going Back to Cali“, “I’m Bad“, “The Boomin’ System“, “Rock the Bells“, and “Mama Said Knock You Out“, as well as R&B hits such as “Doin’ It“, “I Need Love“, “Around the Way Girl” and “Hey Lover“. In 2010, VH1 placed him on their “100 Greatest Artists Of All Time” list. In 2017, LL Cool J became the first rapper to receive the Kennedy Center Honors. In 2021, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with an award for Musical Excellence.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
A similar phrase was first used in a poem called “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns: “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley, / An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain / For promis’d joy!” John Steinbeck used the last part of the phrase for the title of his popular novel Of Mice and Men, now a well-known moral fable, stage play, and movie.
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Benedict Arnold (General in U. S. Revolutionary War) –
- The Marquess of Lansdowne (Canadian Governor General 1883-1888) –
- Albert Schweitzer (physician) –
- Hugh Lofting (author) –
- John Dos Passos (novelist) –
- Faye Dunaway (actress) –
- Holland Taylor (actress ) –
- LL Cool J (rapper & actor) –
- Jason Bateman (actor) –
Died
- Edmond Halley (astronomer) –
- Lewis Carroll (author) –
- Humphrey Bogart (actor) –
- Jeanette MacDonald (singer) –
- Ray Kroc (fast food entrepreneur) –
- Shelley Winters (actress) –
- Darlene Conley (actress) –
- Ricardo Montalban (actor) –
- Conrad Stafford Bain (Canadian-American actor) –
- Alan Rickman (actor) –
Events
- The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut were adopted–
- First successful cesarean operation in the U.S.–
- Gideon Hawley became first state school superintendent in the United States (for New York state)–
- First nonstop trans-Canada flight completed–
- Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio–
- Diana Ross sang with the Supremes for the last time, Las Vegas, Nevada–
- The first probe to land on Saturn’s moon, Titan, signaled it survived its descent. The Huygens space probe was designed to last only minutes on Titan’s surface, but surpassed the expectations of mission managers. Huygens descended the atmosphere, contacted the surface, and transmitted for at least an hour and a half–
- Andean bear Billie Jean gave birth to the first of twin cubs, at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.–
- 40,000 pounds of liquid chocolate flooded I-40 due to overturned tanker near Flagstaff, Arizona –
- A tanker carrying 40,000 pounds (about 3,500 gallons) of 120-degree-F liquid chocolate became unhitched from the main truck and rolled over on westbound Interstate 40, at milepost 211, east of Flagstaff, Arizona. No one was injured. The biodegradable contents of the damaged tanker had to be pumped out onto the median so that the vehicle could be lifted onto a tow truck. It took crews about 4 hours to clean up the river of chocolate before several closed lanes could open once more.–
Weather
- Blizzard hit Chicago, Illinois–
- Burlington, Vermont, received 23.1 inches of snow in 24 hours–
- After two weeks of very cold weather, unseasonably warm temperatures accompanied by chinook winds and heavy rains were brought to northern and central Idaho. The catastrophic flooding caused mudslides that blocked and washed out sections of U.S. 95, Idaho’s main north-south highway. With total damage of about $50 million, it was called the worst natural disaster in the state’s history.–
- Avalanche near Park City, about 20 miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah–
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