“There’s no way around it,” the rapper told the crowd, which included Adele, Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga and others. “We’ve had a death in our family,” he said. “For me, the only thing that feels right is to begin with a prayer for a woman who we love, for our fallen sister, Whitney Houston.”

LL opened the prayer by thanking God for “sharing our sister Whitney with us,” and added, “although she is gone too soon, we remain truly blessed to have been touched by her beautiful spirit and to have her lasting legacy of music to cherish and share forever. Amen.”

Following LL Cool J’s prayer, the emcee introduced a video of Houston bringing singing her signature song “I Will Always Love You” at a previous Grammys show.

The crowd rose to their feet out of respect, as LL Cool J said, “Whitney, we will always love you.”

Later in the show, Grammy-award winning recording artist Jennifer Hudson also honored the late Houston with her own soaring rendition of ‘I Will Always Love You.’

Watch a video of LL Cool J’s prayer for Whitney Houston at the 2012 Grammys below:

LL Cool J Begins 2012 Grammys With Prayer For Whitney Houston [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

LL Cool J,  the unstoppable rapper and NCIS: LA star will be the host for the 2012 Grammy awards. In the past the jack of all trades has hosted the Grammy nomination concert, but now he’s stepping up to the plate for the big show, which was the announcement made on Wednesday, January 18th.

In a statement with People LL Cool J said I’m thrilled to be part of Music’s Biggest Night.” His hosting duties with the Grammy nomination concert has been on display since 2008, when he first started hosting. “I will always have fond memories of my first Grammys Awards and to now be hosting the Grammy show, in the company of so many other incredible artists, is a dream come true.”

If you count recent hosts the last was Queen Latifah right off of Chicago fame in 2004. This surprising news comes right off the heels of the announcement of a whole list of performers added to the night including Nicki Minaj, Foo Fighters and Taylor Swift join Kelly Clarkson, Jason Aldean and Bruno Mars as some of the lucky nominees who will also take the stage at the show.

A few months ago it was rumored that the most successful act of 2011, Adele would be performing, marking her first public appearance since her highly publicized vocal surgery, but nothing has been confirmed as of yet.

Catch LL Cool J fulfilling his hosting duties (unless he pulls an Eddie Murphy) on February 12th, on CBS.

LL Cool J To Host Grammys is a post from: The Inquisitr

I would like to add that no one- no one- wants to hear Lil Wayne at 6:43 in the morning.

Dear Subway Riders is a post from: The Inquisitr

Roberto Cavalli is going to be soooo pissed– LL Cool J has made a deal with Sears to release his new celebrity diffusion line called. . . wait for it. . . LL Cool J for Sears. I think I’m going to be sick, especially since Sears has designs to get all up in that urban market. Sears. Urban? I think Sears needs more than LL Cool J to accomplish this, but he seems pretty positive nonetheless:

I have always had a hand in fashion in some capacity [such as being the face of Kangol and Fubu], but I have never embraced a brand the way I will embrace this, the LL Cool J name is a brand I have been building for 25 years and I didn’t want to do this line with just any store. I wanted to wait until I felt comfortable enough to take the leap.

It’s hard to imagine that LL Cool J spent 25 years planning to drop this white hoodie on the world.

LL Cool J Loves Sears! is a post from: The Inquisitr