This week, hip-hop icon LL Cool J will release The FORCE album, his first project in 11 years. Fellow Queens rap legend Q-Tip serves as the album’s executive producer, and it’s got guest features from heavy-spitters like Nas, Busta Rhymes, and Snoop Dogg. LL already dropped the lead single titled “Saturday Night Special,” with Rick Ross and Fat Joe. Few days ago, the Eminem collaboration arrived.
Eminem has always been a huge, vocal LL Cool J fan, and their new song “Murdergram Deux” is their first-ever collaboration. Slim Shady co-produced “Murdergram Deux” with Q-Tip, and the song is explicitly positioned as a sequel to “Murdergram,” the fast-rap workout that appeared as a deep cut on LL’s classic 1990 album Mama Said Knock You Out. On the new song, LL and Eminem take turns displaying athletic rap feats over the nervously jittery beat. At the very end of the song, Eminem quotes LL’s old song “Going Back To Cali.”
During a recent interview, LL confirmed that they already shot a music video too: “I just filmed a video of me and Eminem for Murdegram Deux, which is Murdergram part two. And one of the things, there’s a mural in it, and on the mural it says ‘death to the ego.’ Murdergram Deux, death to the ego. Cause it’s really about MCing of it all. It’s not about the ego, it’s not about who’s got money, nothing wrong with money, I like it a lot, who’s got business success, it’s not about any of that, death to the ego! It’s about rhyming, skills, bars, beats.” said LL Cool J.
Then he continued: “It’s pure hip-hop. Pure hip-hop and Em is a fan of pure hip-hop, as am I. So, us working together on that record, it was dope. And the fact that me and him have that song on vinyl, it’s just so dope. But it comes from, like you said, death to the ego, the mural is amazing, it’s dope and I think the video was a lot of fun. You know, hip-hop, baby!”
Later in the interview, LL confirmed that they didn’t record the song in Detroit in Eminem’s studio: “Me and Em actually did a song in Dr. Dre’s studio in LA. We went to Dre’s studio. Shout out to my man Dre, that’s my man.” You can watch the interview below:
