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LL COOL J is setting the record straight about the rumors that have pinned him against JAY-Z for years.
The veteran rapper sat down with Charlamagne Tha God in the first episode of The Breakfast Club host's new series "Out of Context" on Friday, July 12. During their conversation, Charlamagne asked about a rumored battle between him and Hov in which LL allegedly used a previous verse from his 1993 track "Funkadelic Relic." The rapper-actor called that version of events "bulls**t" and explained what actually happened that day.
"It's not true," LL said. "What did happen though is I see this guy in the club trying to flash money at me to get my attention and I'm looking okay and then his man Sauce [Money] came up to me and started rapping. So I had a couple of rounds. Remember I'm albums in now. These are guys that ain't have a deal. When I didn't have a deal, I had a suitcase full of rhymes. Now I'm albums in. Sauce says some rhymes. I said a couple of rhymes. Then I said a little bit of a song called 'Aint No Stoppin' This' — a little bit — and then JAY-Z came up rapping. I was out of rhymes, B."
"So yes, did I run out of rhymes? Was I finished rapping? Abso-f**king-lutely," he continued. "Was it their peanut gallery? Absolutely. But do you really want to get into that kind of s**t with LL? Do you really want that?"
Sauce Money confirmed that he initiated the battle back in 2015. According to HipHopDX, he praised LL for holding his ground and not backing down from the battle.
"It was me who initiated it but everybody got a round,” he said during an interview with Doggie Diamonds TV. “After me, Jay did go and him and Jay did it. And then after that, him and [Jaz-O] did it. To his credit, he stood there for all of it. He ain’t going no where.”
The battle has been talked about among fans for years and helped fuel rumors of a beef, especially after JAY-Z became president at Def Jam in 2004. During an episode of VH1's "Behind The Music," LL once described a discrepancy he had with Hov over the lack of promotion for his album Todd Smith in 2006. Despite their past disagreements, the Queens native previously told Fat Joe he doesn't have any issues with the Roc Nation founder.
Elsewhere in the conversation, Charlamagne also asks LL COOL J about his upcoming album The Force, his favorite movie projects and more. Watch the entire interview below and see the tracklist for his album before it drops this fall.