IN: James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, actor, author and entrepreneur from Queens, New York. He is known for such hip hop hits as "Going Back to Cali", "I'm Bad", "The Boomin' System", "Rock the Bells" and "Mama Said Knock You Out", as well as romantic ballads such as "Doin' It", "I Need Love", "Around the Way Girl" and "Hey Lover".

James Todd Smith was born on January 14, 1968, in Bay Shore, New York, the son of Ondrea Griffeth (born January 19, 1946) and James Louis Smith, Jr. In an episode of Finding Your Roots, LL learned his mother was adopted by Eugene Griffith and Ellen Hightower. The series' genetic genealogist CeCe Moore identified LL's biological grandparents as Ethel Mae Jolly and Nathaniel Christy Lewis through analysis of his DNA. LL's biological great-uncle was hall of fame boxer, John Henry Lewis.  He began rapping at the age of 9, influenced by the hip-hop group The Treacherous Three. In March 1984, sixteen-year-old Smith was creating demo tapes in his grandparents' home. His grandfather, a jazz saxophonist, bought him $2,000 worth of equipment, including two turntables, an audio mixer and an amplifier. Smith stated that "By the time I got that equipment, I was already a rapper. In this neighborhood, the kids grow up in rap. It's like speaking Spanish if you grow up in an all-Spanish house. I got into it when I was about 9, and since then all I wanted was to make a record and hear it on the radio." This was at the same time that NYU student Rick Rubin and promoter-manager Russell Simmons founded the then-independent Def Jam label. By using the mixer he had received from his grandfather, Smith produced and mixed his own demos and sent them to various record companies throughout New York City, including Def Jam.  In a VH1 documentary (Planet Rock: the Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation), LL Cool J, at 14 years of age, revealed that he initially wanted to call himself J-Ski but did not want to associate his stage name with the cocaine culture (the rappers who use "Ski" or "Blow" as part of their stage name e.g., Kurtis Blow, Joeski Love were associated with the rise of the cocaine culture as depicted in the 1983 remake of Scarface).  Under his new stage name, LL Cool J (an abbreviation for Ladies Love Cool James), Smith was signed by Def Jam, which led to the release of his first official record, the 12-inch single "I Need a Beat" (1984). The single was a hard-hitting, streetwise b-boy song with spare beats and ballistic rhymes. Smith later discussed his search for a label, stating "I sent my demo to many different companies, but it was Def Jam where I found my home." That same year, Smith made his professional debut concert performance at Manhattan Center High School. In a later interview, LL Cool J recalled the experience, stating "They pushed the lunch room tables together and me and my DJ, Cut Creator, started playing. ... As soon as it was over there were girls screaming and asking for autographs. Right then and there I said 'This is what I want to do'." LL's debut single sold over 100,000 copies and helped establish both Def Jam as a label and Smith as a rapper. The commercial success of "I Need a Beat", along with the Beastie Boys' single "Rock Hard" (1984), helped lead Def Jam to a distribution deal with Columbia Records the following year.  LL Cool J married Simone Smith in 1995. They have four children.

What was his first single?

OUT: Need a Beat" (1984).

input: After signing with Epitaph, they recorded three new songs with the bands Reggie and the Full Effect and Ultimate Fakebook for a triple split EP which was never released. The new songs were added to the second release of I Am the Movie, which was released via Epitaph on June 24, 2003. This was a wider release than the initial release since they were now on a label. Using funds from the label to pay for the recording sessions, the band re-recorded several songs on the album to match their original vision. During this time, the band visited the United Kingdom for the first time in 2003 while on tour with Sugarcult, followed by performing at Warped Tour 2003. The band continued to tour heavily into the next year, with US dates alongside Rufio, Mae, and Fall Out Boy, Simple Plan, MxPx, and a European trek with Sugarcult, the All-American Rejects, Limbeck as part of the "Totally Wicked Awesome Tour". During this time, the band also filmed music videos for the singles "The Future Freaks Me Out" and "My Favorite Accident". The group began accumulating significant buzz, and were regarded as a must-see act on the Warped Tour 2004.  The band joined Blink-182 for touring stints in Europe and Japan throughout 2004, at the recommendation of that band's bassist, Mark Hoppus. Cain invited Hoppus to produce Motion City's sophomore album, and he accepted. That album, Commit This to Memory, was recorded at Seedy Underbelly Studios, a suburban home converted into a studio in Los Angeles' Valley Village region. It was written partially in their hometown of Minneapolis and in Los Angeles, during a period in which Pierre was seeking treatment for alcohol abuse. Commit This to Memory was the first album by the band to feature material crafted by each musician in the group, as previous releases had featured songs written in the years prior to each member joining. In addition, the band also had more time and funds create the album. During its recording process, Motion City embarked on their first headlining tour, The Sub-Par Punk Who Cares Tour 2004. By the end of 2004, the band had played over 270 shows.  Commit This to Memory, which was leaked to file sharing websites months before its official debut, saw release on June 7, 2005, peaking at number two on Billboard's Independent Albums chart. Pierre estimated that by 2015 the album had sold nearly 500,000 copies. The band's music videos found regular rotation on networks such as MTV2, and the band also performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. However, their mainstream breakthrough brought detractors, and they became a target for critics of pop punk: "[the band was] frequently characterized as the sort of ultra-commercial punk poseurs who water down the genre to the point of drowning it," wrote Michael Roberts of Westword. The group continued to tour "incessantly," attracting larger crowds. They began the year with the inaugural Epitaph Tour, alongside Matchbook Romance and From First to Last. It was followed by dates on the Warped Tour 2005 and the Nintendo Fusion Tour with Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, and The Starting Line, which was their largest nationwide tour to that point.

Answer this question "What songs of this band were successful?"
output:
the band also filmed music videos for the singles "The Future Freaks Me Out" and "My Favorite Accident