"THE FORCE": Short for "frequencies of real creative energy," to be released Sept. 6, “was another challenge,” said the Grammy Award-winner. “Can I create something that sounds new and fresh?" PHOTO COURTESY OF LIVENATION

New York (AP) – The Grammy Award-winning rapper, actor, author LL Cool J will release his first new album in 11 years, "The Force" in September – 40 years into his hip-hop career.

Not that he hasn’t been making music in that time. "I’ve always tinkered around in the studio here and there," he told The Associated Press over Zoom. But over the last two or so years, inspiration really struck. He started working with a producer and pursuing musicmaking more seriously.

Then he hit a roadblock. "I just felt like the tracks that this producer was giving me were better than the songs that I was writing," he said. Then the late Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest came to him in a dream. "He told me, ‘Yo, man, that new music you’re working on is great, man.’ But he had a look on his face like a Cheshire cat, like he was lying to me," he says.

It was a wakeup call – and something told him to call A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip to work together. The move worked: Q-Tip produced every track and made all the beats on "The Force," which will be released Sept. 6.

LL Cool J describes the process of making his 14th studio album as "going back to the drawing board and learning how to rap again … making sure I was really inspired by the things I was saying. That’s why there isn’t a lot of fluff on this album."

"The LeBrons, the Stephs, the Jordans and the Kobes, they all go back to the drawing board, they always try to make themselves better" he continued. "I wasn’t trying to do trendy, and I wasn’t trying to recapture anything I did before."

"The Force" is an inventive rap record, informed by LL Cool J’s lengthy career, touching on various themes, like the power of self-motivation ("Passion"), full-force swag ("Murdergram Deux," a long-awaited collab with Eminem ), not-safe-for-work sensuality ("Proclivities" featuring Saweetie) and