Contrary to popular belief: celebrity profiles have the potential to be pure drudgery. You are told to meet the artist somewhere. And then you usually spend a few hours waiting around for the actual interview to begin. If you're lucky, the artist is easygoing and forthright and maybe even has a sense of humor.
Or, if you are really blessed, you can interview someone, like LL, who is pure, unadulterated eye candy.
People. The man is just too fine for his own good.
As soon as I came into the studio, I found a place to sit where I could observe him without being too conspicuous. To no avail. As soon as I got comfortable on a couch in the studio, LL danced over to where I was sitting, flashed a smile and started lip-syncing to one of his new songs.
I'm hardly ever star-struck. With the exception of a chance meeting with Prince at a Chaka Khan concert back in 1998, I'm rarely fazed by people that I meet. But this is LL! I see him and I'm fifteen again, sitting on Portia and Paul's back porch, singing "I Need Love" at the top of my lungs.
But, there was something weird going on with James Todd Smith. He was almost TOO happy, if that makes any sense. He was dancing around the room, grinning from ear to ear in a way that was almost manic. Really intense. I couldn't quite put a finger on what it was. But I was unnerved. He seemed like he'd recently had a brush with death and was happy to be alive. He danced. He clapped his hands. He screamed out, "Whoo! God is good!" every so often...
Weird.
I couldn't help but ask him why he was so cheerful. He said, "Why NOT be cheerful!?"
Check out the story if you like. Oh. But don't look for this cover. This one is two years old. (I actually wrote this one too. And I was quite amused to find that it can now be purchased on ebay for 5 bucks. That's a buck over the original price!)
At some point, maybe I'll find a pic with the new cover....
Interesting tidbit you won't find in the story: LL loved my belt. It's a leather belt with brass studs. Bought it at a leather goods store in the Beverly Center last summer. It was way too expensive. But I knew I would wear it every day. And I literally wear it every single day. I live for my brown leather belt. So, I'm finishing the interview. We do that weird are we going to shake hands or are we going to hug thing that always freaks me out at the end of an interview. And then, this dude is like. "Yo, that belt is FRESH." I'm like, uh, thanks? And he calls over one of his assistants: "Do you see this belt! It's hot, right?" At this point, I'm beet-red. "How much you want for it?" he says. I laughed. But I'm not sure he was joking...
-A
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