LL Cool J advised Kobe Bryant against releasing a gangster rap album.
The 52-year-old rapper has recalled a time when his late pal - who was killed, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others, in a helicopter crash last month aged 41 - played him a hip hop record he had recorded, but LL was "confused" and told him gangster rap was "not what you need to be doing".
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![LL Cool J has recalled how he once urged Kobe Bryant to scrap an album of gangster rap recordings. Photo / AP.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/4KGT6RHXZPHMM7ZFU77GVXQU3A.jpg?auth=fc470c688c5fcfccc05920abc3848362369c0ed1bb1800cd0e2eb47856ff60cd&width=16&height=13&quality=70&smart=true)
He said: "We talked about rap. He played me this album, this gangster rap album and I was like, 'Kobe,' I said, 'Come on dog. That's not what you need to be doing [laughs].'