A 90-second audio preview of “We’re The Greatest” can be streamed above. This is one of two songs from LL Cool J’s upcoming album, Authentic, which feature Eddie Van Halen. The album is due April 30th.
That is unmistakably Eddie Van Halen on some VERY cool guitar on this! Makes us want to hear the whole song…
Note that LL Cool J makes a couple Van Halen references: “I got Van Halen, I don’t need a bass line,” he raps, followed by, “Eddie got Frankenstein aimed at your jaw!”
Authentic includes a dozen tracks with a total of 15 guest spots. Featured artists are Earth, Wind and Fire, Chuck D, Bootsy Collins, Snoop Dogg, Tom Morello, Brad Paisley, Fitz and the Tantrums,Travis Barker, DJ Z-Trip, Eddie Van Halen, Charlie Wilson, Fatman Scoop, Melody Thornton, Mickey Shiloh and Monica.
This isn’t the first time Eddie has collaborated with someone outside of the hard rock genre. He contributed a guitar solo to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” which helped propel the song to No. 1 on the pop charts. In 1988, Ton-Loc sampled the classic guitar riff from “Jamie’s Cryin'” from Van Halen’s debut album.
Check out LL’s tweet today!
The @eddievanhalen solo on We’re the Greatestis a masterpiece!!!My favorite part of the song. 4/30
— LL COOL J (@llcoolj) March 23, 2013
Preorder Authentic here: