"Ad Rock was the one who gave my demo to [Def Jam Co-founder] Rick Rubin," LL said in a 2020 interview with talk show host Jimmy Fallon. "That's how I got my break. Ad Rock of The Beastie Boys used to hang out with Rick in his dorm room every day, and I sent a tape there - Rick would just throw 'em in the corner in a box with a bunch of other tapes Ad would go through the box when he had nothing to do, he was playing hooky from school. He listened to my tape, he liked it and told Rick to listen to it."
He then talked about Ad Rock's role in his early music. "Ad rock actually made the beat on my first song 'I Need A Beat'," LL recalled. "Rick Produced it, but Ad Rock programmed the drum machine."
LL went on to say that before Ad Rock's version that he himself programmed the beat on a Korg drum machine. "It was similar, but Adam's was definitely better."
Watch the clip above.