How A Tax Refund And LL Cool J’s Mother Led The Artist To Ink A Deal With Def Jam

LL Cool J’s mother played a crucial role in launching his career by investing in his music when he was faced with countless rejection.

The rapper, born to Ondrea Smith in Bay Shore, NY, has released his 14th studio album, “The Force,” after a decade-long wait. Released Sept. 6, the project features 14 tracks, including “Post Modern,” which holds a significant line about his mother’s support that came from a tax refund.

“My mother took her tax return and invested it. She bet it on her kid and look at what he did with it. 2,000 in ’84 that’s a 100,000 x multiple from keepin’ you on the floor,” he rapped.

During an interview on the podcast “Sway In The Morning,” LL Cool J shared the backstory behind that line. He revealed his mother was not making a lot of money, so tax season was an exciting time for her as it led to extra earnings in her pocket when she received a refund.

“Here’s this Black woman who worked really hard, who got a tax return — and just for the record — the majority of people with a lot of money don’t like tax season,” he explained on the podcast. “So if you like tax season, you got some work to do and that’s okay… So, my mother loved tax season. My mother was like ‘Yo I’m going to get my tax return.’ She had other things to do.”

His mother witnessed his love for Hip-Hop emerge at 8 years old, and between the ages of 11 and 12 when he started writing song lyrics. By the time he was 14, he was sending out demos to any label with a listening ear tied to Hip-Hop, including Sugar Hill Records.

While he was faced with a sea of rejection, he also acknowledged the challenges that came as a result of not having proper equipment to make quality music. His mother, Smith, stumbled upon one of his rejection letters that he had crumbled and thrown into a corner.

She made the decision to empower his artistry by purchasing the music equipment he needed.

“My mother found a letter and she came in there, and I’m in the room and I’m just sulking… and she’s like, ‘What’s wrong?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t have no equipment. I can’t make my music right,'” LL Cool J recalled. “So she just happened to get her tax return and she went, she said, ‘What kind of drum machine do you want?’ She surprised me, she went and bought me one. She bought me the wrong one, but she bought me one.”

Filled with excitement, he admits that he skipped over the instructions that came with the drum machine and learned how to program it manually. The equipment helped him create what would become his first single, “I Need a Beat,” although it had different rhymes while keeping the hook, he says.

LL Cool J went on to send the tape to Rick Rubin, the co-founder of Def Jam Records, who birthed his label from his dorm room in New York back in 1983, according to Billboard.

The rest is history. LL Cool J joined Def Jam Records in 1984 at 16 years old. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, he was one of its first signees. Before signing an official contract, his single “I Need a Beat” was released officially under the label. He later signed a contract, agreeing to split the publishing rights, and he received a $50,000 check.

“It was just like, ‘Yo, let’s just get it and we’ll figure it out.’ Sometimes you gotta be willing to crawl over the barbed wire fence with no shirt on to get what you want,” he said on an August 2023 episode of “The Breakfast Club” podcast.

LL Cool J would go on to a secure a 10-album deal under the label. His catalog includes “Radio,” “Mama Said Knock You Out,” and “10.”

In 2008, the Hip-Hop emcee parted ways with the label but later returned in 2019. His album “The Force” was released under Def Jam in light of the 40th anniversary of his first signing.

“I called that [Def Jam] phone number every day for a week and a half. That demo led to the creation of Def Jam. Now, 40 years later, here I am putting out this record on Def Jam again,” he told E! News.

Ultimately, the “Rock The Bells” hitmaker’s decades-long journey in music can all be traced back to the help of his mother, who made it all possible.

“That’s ’cause my mother with her tax return. My mother, I love her so much, and that was [an] incredible moment for me,” he said on “Sway In The Morning.”