The FORCE

The FORCE is the fourteenth studio album by the American rapper LL Cool J, released on September 6, 2024 through LL Cool J, Inc. and Def Jam. Entirely produced by Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, it is LL Cool J's first studio album in eleven years, following Authentic (2013), and it arrived forty years into his recording career.^{1 • 2 • 3}

Background

LL Cool J emerged in the mid-1980s as a Queens-bred MC whose aggressive delivery helped define Def Jam-era rap, and he later became known to wider audiences through acting and television work.² His previous studio album, Authentic, appeared in 2013, and The FORCE ended a gap of eleven years between studio releases.^{1 • 8} In interviews around the release he framed the project as a statement for hip-hop culture rather than a commercial play, saying he wanted to "do the Blackest shit in the world" and to show that an artist could take that much time off and still deliver.⁴ He told The Guardian that a new LL album needed to be impactful the way a new film from a major director is, and he described having to relearn aspects of his craft during the long hiatus.⁹

Music and production

Q-Tip's production is the album's defining element. NPR described the pairing as two artists of about the same age from different realms: Q-Tip, the Native Tongues veteran, aged into a producer and production consultant, while LL Cool J uses the record to re-establish his rap bona fides.³ Apple Music's editorial notes that rather than chase trends, Q-Tip supplies instrumentals and, on more than one occasion, hooks that aim for a mature yet rugged vibe, from the laidback synth slap of the Saweetie duet "Proclivities" to the funk of the Eminem collaboration "Murdergram Deux".²

The track list mixes thematic material. "Spirit of Cyrus", with Snoop Dogg, presents a Black vigilante fantasy in which racists face violent comeuppance; "Huey in the Chair", with Busta Rhymes, outlines a revolutionary mindset; "Basquiat Energy" looks back at LL's come-up; and "30 Decembers" reflects on the difficulty of going home again. "Black Code Suite", featuring the Gambian-British musician Sona Jobarteh on bass, guitar, and vocals, mixes memory with militancy through an Afrocentric bent.^{2 • 5} AllMusic notes the absence of trap or drill beats alongside a turn away from by-the-numbers boom-bap nostalgia, pointing to "Praise Him" with Nas as a blend of four-on-the-floor percussion and neo-soul atmospheres.¹

"Murdergram Deux" is a sequel to "Murdergram" from the 1990 album Mama Said Knock You Out, with a skittering beat over which LL and Eminem trade frenetic verses.¹⁰ The closing "The Vow" is a posse cut with the relative newcomers Mad Squablz, J-S.A.N.D., and Don Pablito, mixed by Manny Marroquin and mastered, like the rest of the album, by Mike Bozzi.^{5 • 6}

Reception

Critics received the album as a successful late-career return. Metacritic recorded a Metascore of 76 from eight reviews, seven of them positive.⁶ AllMusic called it a powerful and often unpredictable set on which LL reaffirms his legacy with sure-footed flows and warm, mellow instrumentals.¹ RapReviews scored it 80 and called it possibly the most impressive example of a rapper approaching sixty demonstrating why he is one of the greats, while noting it gets bogged down at times in proving LL can still rap.⁶ The A.V. Club gave it 83, and Slant Magazine, at 70, reserved particular praise for "Spirit of Cyrus" as exemplary storytelling, crediting Snoop Dogg's menacing hook.⁶ Rolling Stone, the lowest score in the set at 60, wrote that the album is hardly LL's grown-up 4:44 but that he remains the same "Farmers Boulevard superhero" he has always been.⁶ NPR placed the record among 2024 albums by golden-age rappers that buck the pattern of diminished late-career returns, calling it a dynamic showcase of adaptive evolution.¹¹

In the United Kingdom the album reached number 36 on the Official Albums Sales Chart and spent two weeks in that chart's top 100, peaking at number 79 on the Scottish Albums Chart.⁷

Track list

The standard track list, with durations as listed by Universal Music:⁵

1. "Spirit of Cyrus" (with Snoop Dogg) – 3:30
2. "The FORCE" – 2:52
3. "Saturday Night Special" (with Rick Ross and Fat Joe) – 3:28
4. "Black Code Suite" (with Sona Jobarteh) – 4:26
5. "Passion" – 2:29
6. "Proclivities" (with Saweetie) – 3:39
7. "Post Modern" – 2:09
8. "30 Decembers" – 3:26
9. "Runnit Back" – 2:46
10. "Huey in the Chair" (with Busta Rhymes) – 2:24
11. "Basquiat Energy" – 2:22
12. "Praise Him" (with Nas) – 2:25
13. "Murdergram Deux" (with Eminem) – 3:05
14. "The Vow" (with Mad Squablz, J-S.A.N.D., and Don Pablito) – 4:35

References

1. LL Cool J: THE FORCE Tracks & Reviews, AllMusic
2. THE FORCE – Album by LL COOL J, Apple Music
3. New Music Friday: the return of a legend, NPR Illinois (September 6, 2024)
4. LL COOL J on 'THE FORCE', NME
5. THE FORCE di LL COOL J, Universal Music Italia
6. Critic Reviews for THE FORCE, Metacritic
7. THE FORCE – LL COOL J, Official Charts Company
8. LL Cool J Returns to the Mic Reinvigorated with 'The FORCE', Atwood Magazine
9. LL Cool J: 'Hip-hop isn't underdog music any more', The Guardian
10. LL COOL J – THE FORCE review, The A.V. Club
11. Golden-age rappers make a digital-age leap — and survive, NPR via NCPR

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026

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