| Net Worth: | $120 Million |
| Salary: | $350 Thousand Per Episode |
| Date of Birth: | Jan 14, 1968 (54 years old) |
| Place of Birth: | Bay Shore |
| Gender: | Male |
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.87 m) |
| Profession: | Actor, Record producer, Writer, Author, Rapper, Singer-songwriter, Entrepreneur |
| Nationality: | United States of America |
Table of Contents
How much does LL Cool J make and what is his net worth?
LL Cool J, an American actor and rapper, is worth $120 million. He was one of the first hip-hop artists to break into the mainstream music scene. He is also known today for being a star on the network TV show NCIS: Los Angeles. Each episode of NCIS pays him $350,000.
Early Years
James Todd Smith was born on January 14, 1968, to Ondrea Griffith and James Louis Smith Jr. in Bay Shore, New York. LL Cool had a hard childhood, with a lot of bad things happening to him. When LL was four years old, he came home to find his mother and grandmother dead from gunshot wounds.
In a fight over their divorce in 1972, his father shot at them and almost killed them. His mother then started dating a drug addict named Roscoe Granger. LL was often beaten by Roscoe.
When Smith was young, he started singing in his church choir. This got him interested in music. He also started rapping when he was 9. His jazz saxophonist grandfather helped James with his music and gave him his first mixing table when he was sixteen. Sears is where the table was bought. His mother was happy for him and helped him get a Korg drum machine with her tax return one year.
Rap Career
Smith began recording his own songs and submitting them to several record labels. His demo was sent to Def Jam Recordings personnel. Because of the excellent demo, Def Jam offered him his first record contract. His new stage name, L.L. Cool J, which stood for Ladies Love Cool James, was used for the release of the song. Because his 1984 single “I need a beat” sold over 100,000 copies, Cool J was well-liked by both the rap community and the general public. As a result, he dropped out of high school to work on his debut album.
His first album, “Radio,” was a huge hit and went platinum after 1.5 million copies were sold. Not only did it make a lot of money, but it was also well received by critics. Cool J’s use of traditional song structure made rap more accessible to the average listener. He would release “Bigger and Deffer” in 1987. One of the first pop-rap songs was “I Need Love.” He got a lot of praise from critics and fans alike, and the album sold 2 million copies.
In 1989, he would release another album called “Walking with a Panther,” which would also go platinum. During this time, the western hip-hop scene started to grow. Gangster themes started to show up more and more in hip-hop. He put out “Mama Said Knock You Out” in 1990. The album was much rougher, which was appealing to hip-new hop’s generation. It was seen as a second success.
Sad to say, neither critics nor fans liked his next album, which came out in 1993. He took two years off and then started a career as an actor. He was in the movies “The Hard Way” and “Toys” during this time. He was also in the NBC comedy show “In the House.” In 1995, with the album Mr. Smith, he went back to making music. The record had songs with Boys II Men and even a cover of “The Lady in My Life” by Michael Jackson.
The music video would be one of the first hip-hop videos to be shown on VH1 and would win LL a Grammy. More than 2 million copies of this album were sold. Then, LL Cool J’s album Phenomenon was made available.
He released the platinum-certified album G.O.A.T in 2000, which debuted at the top of the Billboard album rankings. In 2002, LL Cool J released “10.” His tenth studio album was it. When it was released, it was at No. 4 on the Billboard Charts. The next four studio albums by LL Cool J all performed better than the previous one. Five years in a row, from February 2012 to February 2016, LL Cool J hosted the Grammy Awards. It was revealed that LL Cool J has rejoined Def Jam Records in September 2019 and that new music was in the works.
In January 2016, LL Cool J got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In December 2017, LL Cool J was the first rapper to win one of America’s highest honors for a performer: the Annual Kennedy Center Honors. In response to this honor, he put up a message on Instagram that said: “This is for everyone who came before me and everyone who came after me. We were put on this planet to love and motivate each other. Bring our dreams into the world and make them come true. I hope you get ideas from me, because you give me a lot of ideas.”
Career in Acting
Along with his successful music career, LL Cool J has a long list of well-known acting roles on his resume. His first role was a small one in Wildcats, a movie about high school football. He was cast as Captain Patric Zevo in the 1992 movie Toys.
LL Cool J had his own TV show, called “In the House,” from 1995 to 1998. He played a famous former football player who can’t pay his bills and has to rent out part of his house to a single mom and her two kids. He had a small part in Halloween H20 in 1998. In the years that followed, he was in Deliver Us from Eva, S.W.A.T., and Mindhunters.
Since 2009, he has played the main character on the CBS police drama NCIS: Los Angeles. Sam Hanna, who works for NCIS and used to be a Navy SEAL, is played by LL Cool J. He has been the host of the popular game show Lip Sync Battle since April 2015.
LL Cool J’s Paycheck
How much does NCIS: Los Angeles pay LL Cool J per episode? $350,000
Other Things
The hip-hop sportswear brand TROOP has worked with LL Cool J. He also worked with FUBU in 1996 to start a clothing line. He started a clothing line called Todd Smith, which makes trendy clothes for people who live in cities. In 2008, LL made a deal with Sears to make and sell a line of affordable clothes for families. He started Boomdizzle.com in 2009, which is a record label and social networking site. In November 2017, LL Cool J finished a course at Harvard University called “The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports.”
LL Cool J has written four books: an autobiography called I Make My Own Rules in 1998, a children’s book called And The Winner Is in 2002, a fitness book with his trainer called The Platinum Workout in 2006, and LL Cool J in 2007. (Hip Hop Stars.)
Personal Life
Since 1995, LL Cool J has been married to Simone. Together, they have four children.
In August 2012, he broke the nose and jaw of a person he thought was breaking into his house in Studio City, Los Angeles. This made the news. He was supposedly upstairs in his house when he heard noises coming from downstairs, so he went to see what was going on. There was a fight, and LL was able to catch the suspect and hold him down until the police came. The suspect was later taken to a hospital because he was hurt.
