The BET Hip Hop Awards will honor veteran music recording artist and actorLL COOL J this year with the “I AM HIP-HOP ICON” Award.
What began for LL COOL J (whose real nameis James Todd Smith) in the nascent, burgeoning rap and hip hop scene of the 80′s, has now seeped throughout the musical and cultural phenomenon that is today’s hip hop. All the while, LL COOL J has remained a musical and cultural force. First introduced to the world in 1984 as a Def Jam Records flagship artist, the multi-platinum two-time GRAMMY Award-winner is the first rap artist to amass ten consecutive platinum-plus selling albums and is currently tied for third place for most Billboard chart debuts by a rapper.
