LL COOL J Reveals Why “Accidental Racist” Still Bothers Him

LL COOL J admitted his “Accidental Racist” collaboration with Brad Paisley was a complete failure in an interview with Vulture. The Hip-Hop legend viewed the song as the biggest misfire of his career.

“I completely blew that one,” he said. “Like, in terms of my intention versus how it came off to people. Oh my God. Like, I missed the mark crazy. And it always bothered me because my intention was absolutely not how it came off. I feel like it was like having a hot date with a vegan and setting everything up wonderful and the first thing the chef brings out is a big, juicy steak. But you think it’s vegan still, you know what I mean? I completely screwed that one up and didn’t mean to. It was the worst kind of miss because it’s one thing to fail; it’s another thing to fail when you’re looking to do the right thing and you’re looking to say the right thing.”

Paisley defended “Accidental Racist” when it dropped in 2013. The country star claimed he “wouldn’t change a thing” about the track, which appeared on his Wheelhouse album.

The infamous single featured many questionable lyrics, including LL COOL J’s “R.I.P. Robert E. Lee, but I’ve gotta thank Abraham Lincoln for freeing me.” The song remained a sore spot for him over a decade later.

“It goes gold, which is really f###### bizarre,” he told Vulture. “I don’t even have a copy of the plaque. I never even asked for one. Like, I made songs that just weren’t great songs. Okay, I can live with that. But to have a song that garners that much attention and actually negatively impacts the way people perceive my intention was the worst. That s### was the worst. I think it was just the idea that, somehow, I was looking to appease racists. Yo, bro, that is not what I meant.”

He continued, “To put it in simple terms, I was trying to say, ‘First of all, just leave me the f### alone because of what I look like. Let’s start there. And then we could see what else can happen from there.’ But instead, I said the iron chains and the durag … It just was a bad metaphor. It was just all wrong.”

LL COOL J is releasing his comeback album The FORCE on Friday (September 6). The project is his first studio album since 2013.