Rapper says he ‘had no idea’ he’d invent one of the most-used phrases of all time

From ‘very demure, very cutesy and very mindful’ to ‘that’s so brat’ or throwing it back to ‘YOLO’, pop culture regularly wriggles its way into our vocab – whether we like it or not.

And sometimes, we don’t even realise where some of the most-used phrases of all time come from. Just like the case with calling using the term ‘G.O.A.T’.

Obviously, short for Greatest of All Time, it gets thrown around a fair bit from sport stars like Lionel Messi and Simone Biles to actors, musicians and just general icons.

But it actually came from a music star argued to be one of the greatest themselves. LL Cool J arguably originated the ‘G.O.A.T’ phrase but the rapper says he ‘had no idea’ he’d end up invented one of the most-used terms.

He's just released a new album after over a decade. (NDZ/Star Max/GC Images)

Recently releasing his first new album in over 11 years, THE FORCE, the ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ rapper tells Metro of the phrase: “There’s no question I came up with that!”

Also known for his acting career, he used the acronym for his eighth studio album, G.O.A.T back in 2000 which debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200.

LL Cool J explains the inspiration for the term came from ‘smashing together’ the famous ‘I am the greatest’ quote from Muhammed Ali along with the nickname given to street basketball legend, Earl ‘the Goat’ Manigault.

He admits that’s ‘it’s pretty wild that it turned out how it did’ with it now basically being part of our everyday language. “I had no idea it was gonna become a worldwide phrase and statement,” the NCIS actor adds.

Plenty of fans reckon he's one of the GOATs. (Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images)

The 56-year-old does wish he had trademarked the phrase (I mean, who wouldn’t regret that?) but tries not to dwell on it. LL Cool J does have an impressive list of credits to his name to be able to get over that after all.

Instead, the rapper uses the Greatest of All Time title as inspiration for his future work.

“To be able to touch the world through my art like that is pretty dope. What it says to me is that I can do more creatively,” he explains.

“It says to me, if I’m capable of creating terminology for the entire globe, I can do some big things.”

Well, pretty inspirational stuff from one of the absolute legends of rap and hip-hop. Now let’s see if his new album lives up to the G.O.A.T status.