Ever since 1984 L.L. Cool J. (birth name James Todd Smith) has lived up to his name – “Ladies Love Cool James”- as one of the coldest rappers in the game and a sex symbol for his female fans. Fast forward to 2017, and now L.L. and his wife, Simone Smith’s four offspring are grown adults who are living up to their versions of their Pop’s rap name too.
Meet L.L.’s Kids
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Smith Kid #1: Najee
As a damn near clone of his “I’m Bad” daddy, L.L.’s and Simone’s first born child- 28 year old son, Najee Laurent Todd Eugene Smith- has the ladies loving him these days. He’s a successful professional photographer who’s very grounded and close with his fam.’
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Check out some of his work at www.NajeePhotography.com.
Smith Kid #2: Italia
The Smith’s second born- daughter, 26 year old Italia Smith (pictured below with her brother) is beautiful and she’s taken fellas. She and her husband, Lamar Cartez, jumped the broom in June of this year (2017) and they’re enjoying the newlywed life.
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Smith Kid #3: Samaria
The third born “Rock The Bells” baby is 22 year old Samaria Smith, who is her dad’s twin as you can see.
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She’s also been gifted with L.L.’s musical gene, except instead of spittin’ bars, she’s singing beautiful melodies over tracks and making her daddy a proud papa. Check out L.L.’s recent post of Samaria getting her sing on…
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bbvwk7aluLe/
Smith Kid #4: Nina
And last, but not least is the Smith’s baby, who was named after one of my favorite artists of all time- 17 year old Nina Simone Smith (pictured below in camouflage jacket, far left).
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Not sure what plans Nina has for her life when she becomes and adult, but from the looks of her glamm’d up diva style- modeling wouldn’t be a bad idea. Ms. Nina clearly isn’t short on poses and gets her Naomi Campbell on whenever the camera phones are out…
Don’t Believe The Hype
Seeing L.L. with his kids and wife of 22 years is a beautiful thing. Why? Because there was a time when L.L. was a part of the emerging hip hop scene in the 80’s and not only did hip hop get a bad wrap by those who just didn’t view it as a real art form, but so did rappers who were fathers at that time. The general consensus was (and still is unfortunately) that young Black male celebrity dads (and Black fathers overall) were not responsible enough to take care of their seeds. Looking at the Smith fam,’ it’s evident that that generalized assumption missed him. He’s been in his babies’ lives since day one and has remained solid with his wife…
So although it’s understandable- based on the statistics- that many assume Black men fall into the category of ‘neglectful baby daddies’…all hope is not lost ladies and all Black men are not what we’re oftentimes stereotyped as being.
In Other L.L. Cool J News: Congratulations Are In Order!
We couldn’t end this without give L.L. a round of applause and an Old School fist bump on his recent well deserved nominations:
1. 2018 Rock N Roll Hall of Fame Nomination– Be sure to VOTE FOR L.L. HERE
1. NAACP Image Award- “Feeling blessed and honored to be an @NAACPImageAward nominee. @SpikeLSB has been a lot of fun! Truly an amazing group of people. Shoutout to @NAACP for all that you’ve done and continue to do for our country. #Grateful #LipSyncBattle #Spike #ParamountNetwork” -L.L.
Feeling blessed and honored to be an @NAACPImageAward nominee. @SpikeLSB has been a lot of fun! Truly an amazing group of people. Shoutout to @NAACP for all that you’ve done and continue to do for our country. #Grateful #LipSyncBattle #Spike #ParamountNetwork pic.twitter.com/9fRGndJAuR
— LLCOOLJ (@llcoolj) November 20, 2017
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The past 33 years of L.L.’s career as a rap legend and now as an actor currently starring on NCISLA, has been a pretty cool transformation to witness. Now, if we can just get the brotha to drop a new rap classic just for nostalgia’s sake, then we’d really be saying something.
