LL Cool J is preparing for his upcoming album and recently revealed a major shift in his creative process. The 55-year-old said that Dr. Dre was the original producer, before a dream led him to call on Q-Tip.

The Queens, N.Y. rapper appeared on the May 22 episode of Way Up With Angela Yee and shared details on his extensive work with the Compton artist. “So, the real story is that I did about 30 to 40 songs with Dr. Dre, and in doing those songs, I felt like the music was amazing,” LL said. “What Dre was bringing to the table was super dope — but I felt like the writing, what I was bringing to these songs didn’t feel strong enough to me.”

He went on to discuss a dream where he was visited by the late Phife Dawg, which inspired him to collaborate with The Abstract. “I ended up having a dream, and in this dream, Phife Dawg from A Tribe Called Quest came to me,” the NCIS actor said. “When he came in my dream, he was like, ‘Yo, that album you gonna do with Dre is gonna be dope.’ And I’m looking at him and he’s smirking a little bit. He had a funny look on his face.”