L recalls when Hip-Hop wasn’t a popular culture
Hip-Hop has grown to become one of the most popular music genres on the planet, but the culture has come a long way. Rap legend and pioneer LL Cool J recently sat down with Gillie Da King and Wallo on their podcast Million Dollaz Worth Of Game where he recalled a time when there were no mangers, executives and A&Rs in Hip-Hop.
“There weren’t no managers in Hip-Hop when I started,” L recounted. “There were managers, there were no A&R, there were no executives. The only manager was like at the Red Lobster. No managers. Look Russel was an executive, he was acting like manger, he was a promoter,” the G.O.A.T rapper added, referring to Russel Simons, who helped him gain his ground in the rap game during the ‘80s.
“We was making our way in the industry. There was no network of people who knew Hip-Hop and understood the culture. You know, so everything was brand new. Remember when I started they didn’t even play Hip-Hop on radio on the daytime. That’s when you could only get only a couple of hours on the weekend.”