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
James Smith (actor) James Smith (actor) James Smith (born 1948) who trained at LAMDA, is an English actor well known for his part in the BBC's "The Thick of It" (22 episodes) as senior special adviser Glenn Cullen and as Michael Rodgers, Director of Diplomacy at the Foreign Office in "In the Loop", the film spin off of "The Thick of It". From 9 August 2010 Smith plays Clive in the BBC comedy "Grandma's House". He also took a minor non-speaking role as Lord Carrington in the 2011 film "The Iron Lady". In 2014 he appeared in "Boomers" as Trevor. He played Graham