LL Cool J Quotes

"Keeping it real ain`t about carrying a gun or smoking blunts. It`s about being true to yourself and those around you."

"Am I James Todd Smith now or LL Cool J? Pick a name baby. Pick a name and ride with it. I don`t wanna abandon my identity as LL Cool J, but at the same time, I had to figure out how to let people know that I`m really serious about making these movies. You know when you do 25 or 30 movies and people are still asking you `how does it feel making the transition?` you know you`re not communicating correctly. So I just put the James Todd Smith thing there to let people know I was serious. It`s not like I made it Lawrence Cool J or something!."

"Hip-hop can be limiting and I refuse to accept limits. I`ve been training as an actor for six years. Nobody goes to acting school for six years. I mean, the college course is only four years! I absolutely trained. My acting coach is from the Stanislavsky school. It`s real - I act."

"I`m happy to be black. I am what I am, I`m doing very well in my life, and I`m thankful to God for that. I am a real person that cares about his art and cares about what he`s doing - I have a heart and a soul and want to touch people and give. As a black man, my hope is that I can touch more and more people all over the world of different races and different colours. And I think eventually, if I just stay on this path, we`ll get there."

"One thing I`m not gonna do, because I`m black, is suddenly say `you know what, I can`t play a villain!` You don`t need to be the good guy to get a good message out. I`m not going to limit myself like that. I just want to play good roles and be able to touch a lot of people."

"I think when you move past your fear and you go after your dreams wholeheartedly, you become free. Know what I`m saying? Move past the fear."

"I don`t think you should go around talking trash about people because I think that`s how you get your hat handed to you. I`m good at what I do, but I wouldn`t be so bold and arrogant as to say something disrespectful about, say, Eminem. He`s talented and he`s good at what he does."

Rollerball sucked! - discussing one of his movies on Late Night with Conan O`Brien.