LL talked the street talk about Jay-Z ("while you was doing that i get money verse, you shoulda been doing your job") last week on a hood video, but he was all Todd James backstage at Fashion Week, when he said this to New York Magazine...

"We need to meet and figure it out," LL Cool J said. "It's tough. Let's be real. You know, they have an artist running a label full of artists. Okay? That's like Calvin Klein * running a fashion label and John Varvatos ** and everyone else is underneath him. What kind of sense does that make? This hierarchy? It doesn't work for me." So he's plowing ahead with his Todd Smith clothing line, checking out the Baby Phat, Varvatos, and perhaps Marc Jacobs shows to get inspiration, and working on his new album, Exit 13: The Icon Versus the Wolf Pack, in which he'll battle teenage rappers. "I'm going to approach [the meeting with Jay-Z] from a positive, optimistic viewpoint. Hopefully it will work."

*[note: the designer, not the drug dealer]

**[note: another prominent menswear designer]

Kudos to NYMag for the timely quote, but, uh...."teenage rappers"? So LL will be battling...Soulja Boy? Lol....

PS: Has anyone noticed how Flex has been spinning entire LL discographies? There's a subtle statements in that. Also, Eskay at Nahright has LL's song "New York Gangsters."