LL Cool J retires - and unretires from music in one day

Rapper/actor LL Cool J retired from music on Monday (14Mar16) - only to unretire and announce a new album hours later.

The Mama Said Knock You Out star took to Twitter in an unlikely rant, which included a shocking post which read: "Today I officially retired from music. Thank you for the love."

His missive went on for 13 more tweets, as he wrote, "I want fans vs haters to start making wagers on my next album... my day 1s (original fans) should bet big. I got this."

Stunned fans were left confused after reading the surprising tweets, which he deleted soon after. However, he went back to the micro-blogging site hours later, and revealed he was just kidding around about putting aside his music career, writing, "Today I'm officially coming out of retirement."

LL also revealed he's working on new music and even going into the recording studio that night to lay down some new tracks.

He added, "And starting a new album (tonight)... I'm gonna massacre the rap game!!!"

The hip-hop star continued to joke around with his followers, writing, "Oh because I've been doing this a long time I can't have fun with this twitter game ? Lol (laugh out loud)."

LL last record, entitled Authentic, was released in 2013 and the LP was his 13th studio album. He recruited various celebrity friends to make guest appearances on the record, including Eddie Van Halen, Snoop Dogg, Seal, Earth, Wind & Fire, Travis Barker, Tom Morello, and Brad Paisley, among others.

Although he remains serious about music, the multiple-Grammy winner has focused on his acting and hosting career over the past few years, with a starring role on long-running TV series NCIS: Los Angeles.

He has also hosted the past five Grammy Awards ceremonies as well as hit celebrity competition show, Lip Sync Battle.