LL Cool J Says He 'Missed the Mark Crazy' With Brad Paisley Collaboration “Accidental Racist”

LL Cool J missed the plot entirely when he dropped the cringey 2013 single "Accidental Racist" with country star Brad Paisley. The song gave us pause back then, and over ten years later, LL realizes the gravity of the near-damage he caused to his career.

In a new Vulture interview, LL gave a look back on his catalog, naming "Doin It" his best song and "Mama Said Knock You Out" a track that had his best bar, but "Accidental Racist" was dubbed his "most misunderstood" song.

"I mean, I damn near don’t even want to bring it up, but if I have to it would be 'Accidental Racist.' Yo, I completely blew that one," the 56-year-old said. "Like, in terms of my intention versus how it came off to people. Oh my God. Like, I missed the mark crazy. And it always bothered me because my intention was absolutely not how it came off."

He continued, "I feel like it was like having a hot date with a vegan and setting everything up wonderful and the first thing the chef brings out is a big, juicy steak. But you think it’s vegan still, you know what I mean? I completely screwed that one up and didn’t mean to."

"It was the worst kind of miss because it’s one thing to fail; it’s another thing to fail when you’re looking to do the right thing and you’re looking to say the right thing."

And while the song was certified Gold, which LL called "fucking bizarre," he also never received a plaque and refused to ask for one.

"Like, I made songs that just weren’t great songs. Okay. I can live with that. But to have a song that garners that much attention and actually negatively impacts the way people perceive my intention was the worst. That shit was the worst," he admitted.

"I think it was just the idea that, somehow, I was looking to appease racists. Yo, bro, that is not what I meant. To put it in simple terms, I was trying to say, 'First of all, just leave me the fuck alone because of what I look like. Let’s start there. And then we could see what else can happen from there.' But instead, I said the iron chains and the durag … It just was a bad metaphor. It was just all wrong."

The crossover single, which appeared on Paisley's 2013 album, Wheelhouse, featured LL and Paisley trading wild lyrics like "Just because my pants are saggin' doesn't mean I'm up to no good" and "If you don’t judge my do-rag/I won’t judge your red flag." But LL initially defended "Accidental Racist" upon its release, telling SPIN that "People don't want to give up the anger over the past for peace today."

"When I say, 'If you don't judge my gold chains, I'll forget the iron chains,' I’m not lessening the weight and severity," he continued. "I’m not trying to trivialize slavery, that would be horrifying. I might as well be a serial killer. But what I am saying is that, okay, those things happened, but instead of me walking around being bitter about the past, my thing is this: Don't run up on me about being a crack dealer or pull me over and illegally search me just based on my appearance."