LL Cool J found love with his wife, Simone I. Smith, when they were teenagers. The rapper and host of the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards met his longtime love in 1987 in New York City, and they dated for ...

Walking in the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens, New York, LL COOL J said, "I love this hood, man. Love this neighborhood. Love everything about it. Love the energy. I made a name for myself rappin' ...

LL Cool J will be in the spotlight when he hosts the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday, September 7. The rapper previously hosted the show in 2022 alongside Nicki Minaj and Jack Harlow. When he’s ...

Rapper LL Cool J and his wife Simone I. Smith have one of the longest and strongest marriages in Hollywood. The couple met in 1987 as teenagers, when LL had just started making a name for himself in ...

His new album, out Sept. 6, is produced by Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest and features several of his contemporaries, including Nas, Eminem and Snoop Dogg. Across 14 tracks, the album tackles themes of ...

Fifty years after critics dismissed hip-hop as a passing fad, Grammy winner LL COOL J is taking viewers back to the genre's authentic New York roots with his new docuseries "Hip Hop Was Born Here," ...

The "Murdergram" rapper will host the awards show for the second time on Sunday, Sept. 7 FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images LL COOL J revealed his pre-hosting rituals to PEOPLE, which includes ...

In August 2025, LL Cool J and his wife, Simone I. Smith, celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary Vandana Pawa is a former contributor at PEOPLE. Christopher Rudolph is a contributing writer for ...