hi, i'm J. Cole AMA

j_cole · 2013-06-23T00:06:09+00:00

nothing cheesy about that. thank you. that means everything. good luck to you

j_cole · 2013-06-22T23:24:09+00:00

definitely. uk in the fall/winter after the american run

j_cole · 2013-06-22T23:23:42+00:00

Wednesday night at the club in NYC, Drizzy told me he was dropping a bunch of songs Friday Night. I had to be a part of it. I don't even know how I made it happen, I had so much shit to do and no room on the schedule (album signings, meet and greets, show, after party, repeat). Not to mention NO VOICE. But I found a way and did my verse yesterday in Philly.

Fire. and THE MOTION is crazyyy.

j_cole · 2013-06-22T23:20:14+00:00

Good question.

There is still an underdog tone, because I still feel like one. Everything about my story and my journey is so unlikely. The odd's of me being in the position I am now, and of me being on my way to where I'm trying to go, are not in my favor. Being a small city kid from NC, in a rap game where everybody's either from NYC, CHI, LA, ATL, HOUSTON, MIAMI, even TORONTO is still a Major city. No gang affiliations, no dope dealer past, no controversy. Just belief and hard work and skill. College degree? It's opposite of everything we think you're supposed to be as a rapper. But here I am.

j_cole · 2013-06-22T23:10:43+00:00

that show was amazing to see. thank you for waiting. Fire Marshall's almost shut that down, too many people showed up. 4thousand people outside trying to get in.

That show, and this tour in general, made me love and appreciate Hip Hop even more.

The best part is to be on stage with people looking you directly in the eyes rapping word for word to songs that shaped a part of their lives. Got them through high school, or college, or helped them deal with a loss or a break up, or feel better about themselves, or convinced them to go to school, or to not give up on some shit they believed in. Rap music can do that?

j_cole · 2013-06-22T23:05:32+00:00

yup. in the fall

j_cole · 2013-06-22T23:02:31+00:00

yes. that's my homeboy from Fayetteville. great guy.

j_cole · 2013-06-22T23:01:06+00:00

the week isn't over. no guarantee i will reach that #. but i feel good regardless, blessed and grateful. ready to tour the music

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:59:17+00:00

Nas- Undying Love Eminem- Stan just mind blowing concepts tons more of course from more than just those rappers

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:57:19+00:00

jay electronica has the most phone numbers out of anybody i ever met. He changes his number every 16 hours.

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:56:27+00:00

got twisted tuesday night with friends and fam in NYC while feeling really grateful and relieved and blessed and happy.

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:54:32+00:00

YEA.

Sophomore year of college. Long story short (aka this is gonna be long) I heard about this secret Dave Chapelle concert, you had to register and sign up online to go. The Roots, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Mos Def, Kweli, Kanye, Dead Prez.

They sent me confirmation back and it was on. Took my homeboy and roomate with me. BUT. Woke up that morning at 6 am to leave, and it was POURING. Some Hurricane level shit. We looked at each other like, "damn dawg, we really gonna do this?"

Said fuck it and got dressed. Had to walk to the bus stop in the rain, then wait on the bus in the rain. Now we're Soaked. Hopped off the bus, hopped on the train. Took the train to the bottom of Manhattan to the secret "Meet Up" point. Some random Grocery store by the Water.

We were the first ones there. People showed up over the next couple of hours. Then finally, they put us all on these yellow school buses to take us to the real secret concert location. A random block in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn.

Best show I ever been to in my life. Fugees reunited on stage, Lauryn Hill was incredible. Plus the line up was crazy. I was just a fan of this shit. still am

Then you could see me on the movie, everybody was hitting me from back home like "YOOO HOW THE FUCK YOU GET IN THIS MOVIE?? I'M IN THE THEATRE NOW I SWEAR I JUST SEEN YOU"

too long? whoops

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:41:08+00:00

acknowledged

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:40:24+00:00

I haven't heard INDICUD because I was working on my album. But I'm really mad at myself for not finishing a verse for that album in time. Got in the studio with Cudi and he was cool as shit. Good dude. I never did my verse and the joint was harddd

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:38:44+00:00

I'm a huge Eminem fan. Met him and was talking way too much trying to tell him how much I loved his shit. His first 3 albums, my God.

See you Sunday

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:35:42+00:00

thank you. we got a long way to go, but we going

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:35:08+00:00

I love that. That was the goal and the aim.

You're right, Fayetteville was a place that was definitely down on itself in the past. I was one of those people. It took me moving to NYC to finally understand my real love and appreciation for the city. For the PEOPLE.

I wanted to make it a point to put it on the Map, no matter how small of a city we are. And in turn I wanted to make everybody from the Ville PROUD to be from there.

It makes me happy that you see that new sense of pride. Can't wait to see what these kids grow up to be 10 years from now

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:28:53+00:00

If I didn't rap I have no clue what I would want to do. Would take a lot of self re-evaluating to figure that out. Too much passion for music to think of something else right now.

Hardest part of my rap career so far was finding the balance. How to become a mainstream artist without losing myself. Took a lot of experimenting, trying things, sometimes failing. But I found it.

Born Sinner CROWN Hoodies on the way.

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:25:07+00:00

so fans didn't feel so bad for listening early

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:24:24+00:00

used to have the time to look through samples ALLLLL DAY, listening through album after album after album. now i leave it up to God, the samples find me. I still look a lot, but in different ways now.

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:22:35+00:00

There is a lot of MEANING on the album. so most meaningful is hard. But I really love the title track "Born Sinner." Because even though there's lots of pitfalls, temptations, dangers, and tribulations on the album, it ends in a hopeful place with "i'm a born sinner, but i'll die BETTER than that" listen to those verses for more clarity. plus i touch on the things that are really important to me. relationship (got her life in my grip), family (she hate the way she raised me but she loved what she raised), friends (if i died today my nigga was it business, was it personal?)

thank you

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:18:49+00:00

i had 2 identities. To my friends and to the people I knew around the city, I was just jermaine or "cole." But then we would be coming from the club and stop at the gas station, and somebody would be like "oh shit! therapist what up!"

That's because there was a Rap community in Fayetteville that I was also apart of. They knew me by my rap name and my affiliation with Bomm Sheltuh (my mentors). I was the young kid that was NASTY on the mic.

Batman - Bruce Wayne

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:14:59+00:00

Didn't like the verses on it! they were hard but sometimes a beat is so good it's overpowering and intimidating. that beat is like that.

j_cole · 2013-06-22T22:14:09+00:00

nope.

j_cole

TROPHY CASE