Joe Rogan Experience #2561 - LL Cool J · Aired Oct 6, 2026
Claim summary · not a verbatim quotation
Quincy Jones once stated that he had to forget two-thirds of what he knew before he could produce a hit song.
The finding
What remains unresolved
LL Cool J described a private remark from his mentor Quincy Jones. I searched several ways, including Jones interviews, quote collections and LL Cool J tributes, and found no record of Jones saying he had to forget two-thirds of what he knew to get a hit. Jones did often talk about instinct, "goose bumps" and leaving room for magic, but that is not the same quote. A recorded interview, book passage or documentary clip with Jones saying this line would settle it as true.
No supporting source was captured. This finding should not be treated as a sourced conclusion.
Quick answer & review status
Quick answer
Is it true that Quincy Jones once stated that he had to forget two-thirds of what he knew before he could produce a hit song?
We can't say yet. LL Cool J described a private remark from his mentor Quincy Jones. I searched several ways, including Jones interviews, quote collections and LL Cool J tributes, and found no record of Jones saying he had to forget two-thirds of what he knew to get a hit. LL Cool J said it (matched by voice) on Joe Rogan Experience #2561 - LL Cool J, aired Oct 6, 2026, at 1:16:07. We couldn't settle it from the evidence we captured, so it stays an open question, not a false claim. No supporting source was captured, so don't treat this as a sourced conclusion.
The context belongs here.
No separately verified on-air correction is recorded for this check. That is not a claim that nobody corrected it.
- Attribution
- Not independently confirmed in this record
- Editorial context review
- Not recorded; generated finding
- Coverage
- One selected claim from the episode
Revisions to this check
No dated revision is recorded here. Older checks may predate this log.
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