LL Cool J announces new album after teasing retirement

NEW YORK, March 15 (UPI) -- LL Cool J is set to return to the world of hip-hop with a new album he announced shortly after stating he was retiring from music altogether.

The announcements came on Twitter Monday when LL Cool J, real name James Todd Smith, in a now deleted tweet proclaimed he was stepping away from music for good.

"Today I officially retired music," he initially wrote. "Thank you for the love." Just hours later he would return to the social media site passing off the announcement as a joke.

"Today I'm officially coming out of retirement. And starting a new album..studio time is set for 8pm..I'm gonna massacre the rap game!!" the NCIS: Los Angeles star then tweeted. "Oh because I've been doing this a long time I can't have fun with this twitter game? Lol," he continued.

LL Cool J has previously had 14 albums appear on the Billboard 200 chart over his long career with his last album Authentic releasing in 2013.