The 56-year-old rapper and actor, once revealed that he collaborated with Michael Jackson on a track that was never released, and now, a physical copy of one of their songs has surfaced.
Unreleased LL Cool J, Michael Jackson collaboration discovered in storage unit by former California highway patrol
A former police officer going “treasure hunting” in his friend’s newly purchased storage unit recently discovered a dozen unreleased tracks Michael Jackson worked on between 1989 and 1991.
On Thursday (December), The Hollywood Reporter, former California Highway Patrol officer Gregg Musgrove found multiple DAT tapes featuring unreleased MJ songs in a storage unit he recently bought in Van Nuys, California.
The unit previously belonged to music producer Bryan Loren, who Musgrove says he’s unable to locate.
The tapes were recorded from 1989 to 1991, and contain 12 songs in total. One of them, called “Truth on Youth,” was labeled “duet rap with LL COOL J” by Musgrove.
Musgrove plans to auction the tapes off, but the songs will not be released and likely not be heard by many others, as MJ’s estate has made it clear they own the copyright.
“The Estate of Michael Jackson was presented with DAT copies NOT master recordings of Michael’s music, and we confirmed that the actual master recordings were in fact already located in the Estate’s vaults,” a rep for the Estate told THR. “It should be clear to all that ownership and rights of exploitation to the recordings remain vested in MJJP Records and that nothing commercial or otherwise can be done with the DAT copies.”
You can view pictures of the tapes below.
In an interview with Variety, (September, 13, 2024 LL COOL J) was asked about the songs he made with Michael Jackson.
"Me and Michael Jackson went to the studio man," he shared, noting that he also sampled the popstar on the title track of The Force. "Mike showed a lot of love to me in general, and definitely to hip-hop. Let's be clear: For me, he's the king. I'm a Michael Jackson fan, B. His talent speaks for itself."