LL Cool J honored with statue built by black artist in hometown

Based on MSN, the statue was made in the image of the rapper from the 1980s, with a Kangol hat and a thick gold chain. The statue will be at David Dinkins Circle in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Not James Todd Smith, LL Cool J statue was built by black sculpture Sherwin Banfield. He is known to have created such busts for notable artists like Jam Master J, Prodigy and Phife Dawg before, MSN reported.

LL Cool J’s statue consists of “a pedestal frame outfitted with nods to the 53-year-old rapper’s massive career,” MSN disclosed.

Banfield opened up about his work on LL Cool J on this Instagram post.

Among his comments: “This bronze bust of @llcoolj was a labor of love carved on Governor’s Island as part of @lmcc_nyc Gov Island Residency Initiative from September to December 2020. I would leave Queens early in the morning to take the first ferry to the government is. to maximize my time to create on the island. Using traditional plasticine techniques and a multitude of reference photographs, I created my artistic interpretation of LL, a collaboration of facial steps emerging from an anatomical foundation. Using my years of class in the study of ancient Kemetic statues, Greco-Roman and Italian Renaissance masters, I strove to model the essence, strength, courage, sensitivity and determination of LL in this portrait bust.

According to American songwriter, LL Cool J commented in an article: “Anything is possible. Statue of me in Corona Park, Queens by the talented @Sherwintheartist.