During a sitdown interview with Charlamagne Tha God, LL Cool J was asked about his rumored battles with Jay-Z.
One such rumor that has floated around for years was that they ran into each other in a random parking lot in Manhattan and started battling. Supposedly, LL was laughed at for using a verse from his 1993 song “Funkadelic Relic” off his album 14 Shots to the Dome.
When asked about that very rumor, the Queens legend had this to say:
“Okay let’s talk about what it really is. First of all, I didn’t rap a verse from ‘Funkadelic Relic.’ Okay? That’s the first f—ing thing. It’s bullsh—t. It’s not true. What did happen, though, is I see the guy, he’s in the club trying to flash money to get my attention and I’m looking like, okay. And then his man Sauce [Money] came up to me and was rappin’. So, I had a couple of rhymes… remember, I’m albums in now.
“You know, these are guys that ain’t had that deal. So, when I ain’t had a deal, I had a suitcase of rhymes. Now I’m albums in. Sauce said some rhymes. I said a couple of rhymes. Then I said a little bit of a song, ‘Ain’t No Stopping This.’ A little bit. Then Jay came up rapping. I was out of rhymes, b. In no scenario was I fully loaded and ready to rhyme. If I was, I’m not exactly the first rapper that you wanna get into that shit with.
“So yes, did I run out of rhymes? Was I finished rapping? Abso-f—ing-lutely. Was it their peanut gallery? Absolutely. But do you really wanna get into some of that shit with LL? You really want that? You dudes want those problems or it’s just a nice story to have?”
The two legends have been cordial at times publicly, but have also dissed each other on various records over the years. Jay got at LL on this Tim Westwood freestyle back in the late ’90s and LL took a shot at Jay’s Def Jam presidency on the track “Queens.”
On the other hand, Jay shouted the rap legend out during his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame speech saying LL helped rappers like him feel more comfortable about being vulnerable and “gave us emotional intelligence.”
LL is on a promo run for his 14th solo album entitled The FORCE which is scheduled for a Sept. 6 release date.
You can watch the full conversation with him and Charlamagne here.