LL Cool J soon led to an increase in multi-racial audiences and listeners, adding to the legacy of the album and hip hop as well. In 2017, LL Cool J became the first rapper to receive Kennedy Center Honors. LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American hip hop recording artist, record producer, actor, author and entrepreneur from Queens, New York. He is known for such hip hop hits as "Going Back to Cali", "I'm Bad", "The Boomin' System", "Rock the Bells" and "Mama Said Knock
Torch (American rapper) Torch (American rapper) Kevin Christopher Belnavis (born July 12, 1982), better known by his stage name Torch, is a Haitian-American rapper signed to Maybach Music Group as part of the group Triple C's. Born and with a childhood in the Castle Hill area of the Bronx, he was sent by his mother to live with his older sister in Miami, Florida, as a teen. While living in Miami, he met William Leonard Roberts II, who came to be better known as musician Rick Ross; a Miami rapper called Gunplay, and rapper Young Breed; together, the four young men formed the