LL Cool J Criticizes Andre 3000 For Playing Flute: "Come On, Bro"

LL Cool J is a hip-hop legend. He's been relevant for longer than some rappers have been alive, so he gets to say what he wants during interviews. LL went on The Shop with Lena Waithe recently, but rather than target younger rappers, he had criticism for another legend. The NCIS star took Andre 3000 to task for refusing to put out a rap album, and instead give fans an album of flute instrumentals. He was baffled by Andre's decision. He's not only confused by a flute album, he's frustrated thinking about the hip-hop album that Andre could have made.

The whole thing came about when Waite asked LL Cool J about inspiration. The rapper noted that he likes to express himself in different mediums, whether it be acting or music. "Sometimes some things are more fascinating to an artist," he conceded. The thing he couldn't understand was abandoning a calling. Which is the very thing he felt Andre 3000 did when the Outkast icon gave up rapping. "Andre 3000," he called out. "Do we want him to make a rap album? Sure. But he’s like, 'I’m on this flute game.' This is my jam right now, I’m super into this.'"

LL Cool J Says He Needs Three Stacks To "Spit"

The man born James Todd Smith appreciates Andre's artistry, but he wants bars. "I need him to spit, though," he asserted. "I need him to spit. Flutes? Man, come on, bro. His bars is all the way up. I’m very clear. Not the flute, B. Not the flute. Don’t do the flute." Lena Waithe came to the defense of Andre's flute album, New Blue Sun, by describing it as calming.

LL Cool J wasn't having any of it. He likened it to him making a violin album. "You wanna hear me do a violin," he asked Waithe. "You might not wanna hear me do sh*t, but do you wanna hear me do a violin?" The comment won over The Shop co-host, Maverick Carter. He agreed that he wanted to hear Andre 3000 "spit" again.

LL was not just critical of other artists, however. He was willing to be brutally honest about his own work. He wait Waite and Carter that he's put out some bad albums over the course of his career. "I make bad albums, but I also have some smack, some crazy sh*t too," he noted. "But I made bad sh*t, or sh*t that people didn’t respond to because that was where I was at."

He went on to explain that sometimes he made albums knowing they wouldn't connect with the public. "Sometimes I make records in a vacuum," he concluded. "Just because it’s for me and then sometimes I make albums for the culture." Who knows, maybe fans will get that violin album he joked about one day.