I had a pretty interesting day yesterday. After spending 10 days out west, I finally returned to New York City. Coming home is always a joy and the main reason is that I get to spend much needed time with my daughter Ashli, doing whatever it is that makes her happy. For some reason, I was extremely restless during the flight home from LA. I couldn't seem to stay focused and every magazine I purchased was full of uninteresting articles. After an hour of browsing through different publications, I decided to spend the rest of the flight time writing about my own life. Because I'm interested in so many things, I can be easily distracted, so I need to have a blueprint in place in order to stay focused on whatever my mission is at the time.

After arriving in New York, I headed straight to the Violator office to pick up Chris Lighty. We had a 6 PM photo shoot with 50 at the G-Unit office for an upcoming project. Please believe me when I tell you this, any conversation with 50 & Lighty always have me thinking, "damn... they've figured out another way to get more checks"! After the shoot, CL and I headed over to the studio to visit with The GOAT... LL Cool J. Now, I've known LL for almost 20 years and other than when I was producing Self Destruction and he helped MC Lyte develop her verse, yesterday was my first time seeing him put it down in the studio. LL is a BEAST! The songs he played were pure fire! We walked in and watched LL write and lay down the vocals in about 1 hour. After watching him bounce around the studio blasting the music and rapping every verse out loud like it was his first recording session, I asked him about what keeps him motivated. He looked at me and smiled, and then he said, "D, I was built for this." HA! You gotta love it!

Comments

LL Cool J is a beast ! I've been following his career for a minute. A true icon in the game. Thanks 4 the visual history.

Posted by: Beatbros | March 13, 2007 03:48 PM

D, as usual you do it again and it is always nice to see you capturing some of hip hop's finest doing their thang and puttin' it down. I salute you for you beautiful photography as well as candid spirit that you bring to your site.

Posted by: D. O'Neall | February 25, 2007 11:44 PM

Greetings D. Man, it's so good to see such candid shots of LL still doin' it to death for 20+ years. Thank you for capturing these seldom seen events.

PS: I have your site linked to mine. It's TurntableTreats.com.

PSS: I was working promotion for "My Name Is D-Nice" over @ Best Performances back in the day.

Posted by: shawn shadow | February 11, 2007 02:27 AM

Excellent studio shots!

Posted by: Nikki | February 1, 2007 04:09 PM

"I was built for this"
That's classic and awe-inspiring.

If only more of us knew what we built for and believed it, what a gorgeous world this would be.

Posted by: Mel | February 1, 2007 01:22 PM

Once again my brother, you are on point with your photos...I feel you with the blueprint to stay focused. You have many talents, expound on them all!!!

Posted by: blaqthought67 | January 31, 2007 04:53 PM

D your timing is on point when you snap off pics , and the black and white on this topic is crucial classic

Posted by: jamar | January 31, 2007 03:50 PM

Nice D

Clean and tight presentation. All the best.

Posted by: Phil | January 31, 2007 03:17 PM

Hot man, the behind the scenes photographs takes a look into the essence of that moment with those artists...!..Congrats D

Posted by: willie | January 31, 2007 12:56 PM

I like the behind scene photograph. D-Nice you are my role model, we have the same passion music and photography. Good luck keep up the good work!
Conrad
Photo Montage

Posted by: Conrad | January 31, 2007 12:46 PM

Nice-D.

I saw that LL was on Martha yesterday. I still missed it though...good to see him out there still lookin good and doin his thang.

Posted by: Jacqueline | January 31, 2007 12:45 PM

Very dope!
this is like some fly on the wall shit!

I am building up myself to one day be in on shit like this.

peace

Posted by: Mel d Cole | January 31, 2007 12:24 PM

Man, it's good to see LL in the lab having fun again. Maybe Fif can help him produce the true heir to Radio.

Posted by: Frank 'viperteq' Young | January 31, 2007 10:23 AM