Having recently worked on an album with LL Cool J, Eddie Van Halen was interviewed alongside the rapper on last weekend’s Piers Morgan Live on CNN.
The duo talked about how they hooked up for LL Cool J’s 13th studio recording, Authentic.
“I reached out to Eddie. I had an idea about doing, you know, a song that had some rock guitar on it,” LL Cool J said. “I feel like Eddie’s the best in the world. I reached out to him. I was hopeful; I had my fingers crossed that he would be willing to work with me. He came by the studio. I played the demo for him. He said, you know, ‘Let’s rock and roll.'”
Van Halen noted that the idea of being on the hip hop project was “a left of center thing” that sounded appealing once he heard some of the material.
In addition, Morgan asked Van Halen about his contributions to Michael Jackson’s smash hit “Beat It.” Interestingly enough, Van Halen said he didn’t receive financial compensation for his blistering guitar work on the track.
“Honest to God truth, the band’s policy was, you know, we don’t do things outside of the band at the time, and everybody was out of town so I had no one to ask,” Van Halen said with a laugh.
Watch clips from the interview below and check out Van Halen’s official website for a list of upcoming tour dates.