Smith took an interest in music at an early age when he began performing in his church choir. His grandfather encouraged James with his music at brought him his first mixing table at age 16. The mixing table was bought at Sears. He began recording his own songs which he sent out to various record companies. His demo got into the hands of the folks at Def Jam recordings. Def Jam loved the demo and released his first record. The record was released under his new stage name L L Cool J which meant Ladies Love Cool James. The rap industry and America also loved Cool J because his single “I need a beat” sold over 100,000 copies. This prompted him to drop out of high school to record his first album.
