LL Cool J Quotes

All I really want to do is things I haven't done. 'I'm gonna put a paper bag on my head and be on the cover of 'Billboard,' see what I can get away with - if they'll let me.' And they let me. And I am literally giggling inside for, like, a month that I got away with it.

I wanted to make my sophomore film as different as possible. I didn't want to be pigeonholed. I didn't want to be identifiable.

I remember when I was in art classes, I hated following the assignments. And I would get in trouble for doing something totally different or taking it in a weird direction.

They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.

Being an artist is in part an act of rupture.

The first prerogative of an artist in any medium is to make a fool of himself.

I wouldn't call my work Modernist. I would rust if I try to think about labels. I'd feel like the Tin Man in 'The Wizard of Oz.'

I found out that total creativity involves a certain intellectual rebellion - not to become a criminal, but somehow. to be totally creating, you have to do things that are a little bit forbidden. You have to feel free, and we know freedom is a hard thing to get.

Original thought, original artistic expression is by its very nature questioning, irreverent, iconoclastic.

I like that the art world isn't regulated.

I'm not going to limit myself just because people won't accept the fact that I can do something else.

Sometimes they try to put you inside a box, but I look at my filmography and I've been able to do a lot.

I'm a little insane, and I'm going to be a little different. But hopefully, somewhere in there, in that creative arena, something will emerge that is new and different and unique.

I think it's been obvious from the beginning that my projects are not going to be something that people already have in mind. You can't be thinking about such things when you create something.

Business people want things to be safe but that's rubbish to me. In music nothing should be safe.

You do not move forward by following convention. You celebrate those who are different, who are not burdened by 'normality.'

I don't want to do music in a box, like everybody say what I can't do, 'he can't say this.'

We do things differently. You don't have to worry about being part of a particular genre. You just go for it.

One of the things with the second record, a word I held close to my chest was 'brave.' To take chances to go outside the box and explore. To continue to toss off any expectation that our fans or anyone else might have of us, to just tap into who I am as a writer and artist and really just operate within that freedom of creation.

I've always tried to do things a little bit before they were being done by the mainstream. I challenge myself to do that in stand-up also, to talk about things that I'm not hearing anybody talk about onstage and in the media.

As an actor, I still have to remind myself of daring to let go and not to repeat myself.

An artist is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo. And an artist takes it personally.

I think every album you have to stretch further and further, give people another piece of you. But then I always try to deviate from the norm.

I hate the idea that I have to represent any particular section of society; I just write good telly, that's all.

I think you don't do work for controversy alone, and whenever you do new work which people don't understand and they say it is done to create controversy.