LL Cool J is being honored in his hometown of Queens in a new solar-powered bronze statue created by sculptor Sherwin Banfield.
Jam Master J, Phife Dawg, and Prodigy aren’t the only Queens rappers enshrined in their hometown. In a new bronze statue titled “Going Back to the Meadows” made by sculptor Sherwin Banfield, LL Cool J has been preserved in the likeness of his 1980s introductory era. Located in the middle of David Dinkins Circle in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the statue has a solar-powered audio feature that plays music from noon to 5 PM weekly, excluding Tuesdays and Thursdays, according to TimeOut. The statue also has a pedestal frame with references to LL Cool J’s career.

The Trinidadian-born Banfield was raised in Queens, creating sculptures of Jam Master J, Phife Dawg and Prodigy for the Queens Public Library in 2019. In 2020, he began sculpting “Going Back to the Meadows” on Governor’s Island from September to December 2020 as part of the Governor’s Island Residency Initiative, in which he explained the process on Instagram.

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