Fresh off the release of his third album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, J. Cole decided to give his first post-release interview with NPR. While that might seem like an odd choice, the segment he joined features Ali Shaheed (A Tribe Called Quest) and Frannie Kelley, a duo that consistently churns out impressive dialogues with hip-hop stars.
We've broken down some of the conversation's best bits, while the full thing stretches for more than an hour (see audio link at the bottom of this page).
J. Cole on 2014 Forest Hills Drive (the house)... When I moved away to college - mind you, that's the house that I started rapping in. I got my first beat machine, made my first beats, wrote my first song, first girlfriends, first crushes, made the basketball team, got my first jobs, learned how to drive. All these memories associated with adolescence was in this house. So it's a special place to me.
On the theme of the new album... Well, last year I was like, "Dang. It's about to be 2014." And right when I said that, it all clicked. Because that was always my favorite number, you know what I mean? Just for that house, I always loved 2-0-1-4. And that's when I knew like, OK: that's the title of the album and that album gotta come out in the year 2014. And this is the year I buy the house back.
On dropping it at the end of the year... I love the fact that everybody was saying, "This is the worst year for hip-hop. Hip-hop is terrible this year. Nobody's selling." And that - forget the sales. "Nobody's good. The albums are trash." I was loving it because the whole time they were saying it I was like, sitting there like, "Yeah. Just watch." Like, you know? "Just watch. Give me two months. You gone see." So I like how that worked out.
On Ferguson protest anthem "Be Free" and lack of other rappers joining in... I don't know what it is. Why don't other people do it? I wish I knew the answer because I don't want to be the only - it ain't cool being the only one. That's not - when it comes to issues like this, that's not something that it's cool to be. It's cool to be the only guy with the new car. That's cool. It's not cool to be the only guy that's trying to say something or trying to be down for a movement. That's not cool.
On Kendrick Lamar's newest joint... When I saw the "i" artwork I got excited. Because just that little message is so strong. And I feel like Kendrick got the voice and he can do it. He can be the one to wake 'em up and be like, "Yo, man. This s-- stop. This s--, we gotta stop this." Cause they respect him. People respect artists and poets. And he has the credibility cause he's from there. He ain't banging, but they know: "You represent us. You are us." So he can speak to them. Same way I can speak to somebody from where I'm from and let them know the same - or something similar if they going down the wrong path.
On getting political support from other rappers... But I feel like it ain't enough of us trying. You know what I'm saying? It's frustrating. There's too much of us trying to make money and a career off of the same cycle. You know what I mean? Off of the victim. We celebrating being victims. And that was cool to me before. It ain't cool to me no more. I can't even - I can't even celebrate that no more.
Check out the full interview below:
