Harvard loves LL Cool J
LL Cool J, recording artist, actor, author, and philanthropist, has been named the 2014 Harvard University Artist of the Year. The two-time Grammy Award winner will be awarded the Harvard Foundation’s most prestigious medal at the foundation’s annual award ceremony during the Cultural Rhythms festival on Feb. 22. “The students and faculty of the Harvard Foundation are delighted to present two-time Grammy Awards host, musician, and actor LL Cool J with the 2014 Artist of the Year award,” said S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation. “His pioneering contributions to a new genre of music and distinguished history of creativity have been lauded by young people around the world, and he is greatly admired for his excellent humanitarian efforts through the Jumpstart program, an initiative that creates early education programs in low-income neighborhoods, which increases school readiness and reduces the achievement gap.” LL Cool J (nee James Todd Smith) is the...