LL Cool J to launch star-studded hip-hop arena tour this summer

The hip-hop arena tour — with The Roots as the backup band — will hit 24 cities and feature a communal format that includes legends like Slick Rick, Method Man and Rakim.

TheGrio Staff

Apr 26, 2023

LL Cool J is embarking on an ambitious arena tour this summer. “The “F.O.R.C.E. Live” tour is scheduled to hit multiple cities, featuring many fellow hip-hop legends and superstars.

The rapper’s Rock The Bells company announced the news, as it is presenting the tour in partnership with Live Nation Urban. The “The F.O.R.C.E. Live,” an acronym for Frequencies of Real Creative Energy, is LL’s first arena tour in over three decades.

Backing LL on tour are The Roots, DJ Jazzy Jeff and DJ Z-Trip. The tour format, which takes its inspiration from the 50th anniversary of hip-hop tribute at the “65th Grammy Awards,” is a “nonstop musical mash-up” of various artists “interwoven within one continuous musical set” rather than a more traditional structure of opening sets and a headlining group.

65th GRAMMY Awards - Show — Performers, including LL Cool J, Flavor Flav, Busta Rhymes, Lil Uzi Vert, Nelly, Spliff Star, Queen Latifah, Ice-T, Chuck D, Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, Grandmaster Flash and Black Thought, perform during the “65th Grammy Awards” on Feb. 5, 2023 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

The excursion will feature several hip-hop luminaries, usually a different combination of performers on most nights and The Roots will serve as the backup band. Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick, Queen Latifah, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Juvenile, Ice-T, Rakim, Common, Goodie Mob, Big Boi, Rick Ross, Method Man and Redman are on the tour’s bill. More acts are to be announced.

The tour will land in 24 North American cities — including Brooklyn (New York), Boston, Toronto, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans and Los Angeles — starting on June 25 and running until Sept. 3.