In between promoting his new partnership with Mastercard and his "Break In Your Jeans" campaign, which rewards cardholders with an all-expense paid trip to anywhere in the world and a pair of jeans to break in along the way, LL Cool J took some time to share with ESSENCE.com some of his fondest memories of Michael Jackson.
I've been listening to Michael Jackson since I was born. I watched The Jackson 5 cartoon and had the pajamas with the feet in the bottom that I'd wear while listening to "Dancing Machine."
The first time I met him was when I went to see him perform at Giants stadium. I was 18 years old and if I remember correctly, it was either one of my publicists or someone in the industry that hooked it up. I was definitely excited to meet him and when we talked, I told him I had loved his music since ‘a buh-buh buh buh-buh.' I started singing that song A-B-C and he started laughing. He was a real cool guy.
Me and Michael definitely had a friendly relationship. We recorded in the studio on quite a few different occasions. I remember one time in the studio, he was sitting up on the piano and I just sat there like a student talking with him about the "Smooth Criminal "video. He was explaining to me how he did that one dance move when he leans forward and joked that he had an Indian swami come in and do a ritual to make it happen. He had me going for like an hour and then he told me he was just kidding. He was a funny guy. I have other funny moments like that, but I don't want to make them too public. I'd rather keep them to myself. I will say, though, in the studio, he was very lighthearted and free and open to the creative process. He's a perfectionist, but he understood that true musical freedom and creativity comes from not being too serious.
After working in the studio and hanging out a few times, I approached him about clearing a sample of "Lady In My Life" for my song "Hey Lover." Him, Rod Temperton and Quincy Jones cleared a sample on my song. It was very well known that he didn't clear a lot of samples, so that was a big deal. I won a Grammy for that song and Michael made that possible for me.
He told me once that "Around the Way Girl" was one of his favorite songs because he like that ‘you got me shook up, shook down, shook out allyour lovin'...' , [which is from the Mary Janes Girls' "All Night Long,"] you know.
He made top-notch music for 40 years straight. He created a soundtrack to every part of our lives. He's like a bookmarker for a lot of people's lives. His music will continue to live on because he's a great artist. People should remember him as a guy who was truly gifted and shared the rewards of his gifts with others."
For more on LL Cool J visit boomdizzle.com.
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