J. Cole is Billboard’s reluctant cover star for the second annual Hip Hop Power Players issue. During the interview — which he confesses he “was not in the mood” for — the Dreamville boss addressed a myriad of topics, including Donald Trump.
He reveals why he didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton (in fact, he didn’t vote in the 2016 election at all) and admits there’s a plus side to having Trump in office.
“With Trump in office, I love that America gets to see the truth,” he explains. “If Hillary Clinton was in office, it would be the most fucking disingenuous shit because everybody would be thinking that everything’s cool because we got an incredibly qualified female president. Which would’ve been amazing on so many levels.
“But all the shit we see right now would’ve still existed; it would’ve just been quiet. And I prefer this shit to be out loud. I prefer an honest America. I prefer the world seeing that, yes, we’re a country that is dumb enough — no disrespect — [that] we got duped into electing Donald Trump.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Cole opened up the K.O.D. track “1985,” which Lil Pump assumed was a diss aimed at him and other SoundCloud rappers. The two eventually sat down for a candid one-on-one conversation in an attempt to understand one another. But Cole doesn’t see the track as “being harsh.”
“I look at it as being a rap response record,” he says. “It’s not even to someone [specific]; it’s a group of people who were on some ‘Fuck J. Cole’ shit, which, when I started peeking my head back into what was going on, was a shock.
“But even while I made the song, I was fucking with these kids. I was a fan. I was riding around playing Lil Pump just because I wanted to understand what it was, and the more I understood, it was like, ‘Damn.’ I was writing that song from a place of, like, smacking your little brother. I still love you, but I’ma smack you.”
Cole then opens up about a three-hour conversation he had with the late XXXTENTACION, who was facing similar allegations at the time of his death.
“When I found out [about the abuse allegations against him], my first response was, ‘Man, I hope maybe one day I’ll get a chance to talk to this kid and figure out if there’s any place that I can help’ because anybody who would do the shit that he did … Hurt people hurt people,” he says. “I’ve walked through prisons and talked to these dudes who got life.
“They took someone’s life at 16 or 17 years old. You haven’t had the chance to process your trauma at that age. I’ma be sympathetic to a kid who has clearly been through so much fucked-up shit that he inflicted this on someone else.”
Finally, he’s asked about Kelis’ abuse allegations against her rap superstar ex-husband Nas, one of Cole’s heroes.
“That hurt,” he says. “I ain’t going to lie. That hurts. [Pauses.] It feels weird because I fuck with Nas, but I just have to be honest. I came up seeing too much fucked-up shit for that to be acceptable. I don’t care who it is. I don’t fuck with people abusing women, and I don’t fuck with people not taking care of their kids.”
Read the full interview here.
Hillary was the most corrupt politician the US has ever seen; the Clinton Foundation deals in money laundering and blood. Thank God for Trump, and it’s time to get Kavanuagh confirmed. Intro to the Fall Off was dope though.
Her and trump are dead even far as corruption.. he is just the dumber male racist version of her.. it was a lose lose
How is he racist??
You know Hilliary once referred to black men as super predators? That’s pretty racist bro.
dont get too excited trump is gonna win again in 2020… the truth hurts but liberals killed themselves with all this pc bullshit.
Nah.
i agree. trump winning has nothing to do with trump, and everything to do with the laws of nature and the pendulum swing
That’s what I always said…if I definitely had to vote last campaign I would’ve voted for Trump for that same reason
I don’t know why he distance himself from Nas when he hasn’t been accused of abusing Kelis. Thoses are words that are coming from Kelis. So for him to be like that was wrong. I can see if thoses were true then yes u want to distant urself from anyone that does thoses things
3 sides to every story…could have called him
I hope trump sits on a tack and his rump hurts for like a day and a half
I like J. Cole’s material but this interview has me baffled. So, you have the right to vote and choose not to. Then you have no ground to complain about nothing that’s going on today regarding 45. You’re part of the problem. And you distance yourself from Nas based off of one side…you could’ve reached out to him and listen to what he had to say. Now, I see you differently.
He let Nas down again, and I agree don’t bitch about what’s going on if you didn’t do anything about it when you had the chance too earlier.
Defending Hillary Clinton, while bashing Trump? Wow lol… Just wow….
JoJoPellegrino Diss LMFAO
The far right are pussy ass idiotic lunatics so I guess it evens out
Who said anything about far right?? The opposite of liberal is conservative, dude
Hillary Clinton would be cool?
I’ll pass on J. Cole, thanks.
Jcoleslaw..
Instead of J Cole dissin mumble rap for the horrendous sub-genre it is, he made a trap album to appeal to the kids. Rappin with the trap flows, using trap-esque beats, it’s all very disappointing and fake. Same complaint I have with eminem kamikazee. Don’t make a trap album to diss trap music. Trap suuuuux
What the fuck are you talking about
Word. Great hook just repeating “Motivate” and “Count it Up.” Trash.
he is going to make America great again. i do think that trump potentially has the same drawing star power like barack Obama. one reason being, he was on television a lot before he got elected. argh, haters gonna hate – you wait – he could eventually come round.
It’s not possible to be human and identify with one thing whole heartedly, if you liberal there’s no way you can honestly be liberal about everything e.g you’re liberal with the immigration issue, but you conservative with letting 6 year olds choose their gender and opting for permanent surgery to alter their bodies. It’s just common sense you can be conservative about gay marriage but be liberal about medical marijuana. People who scream f*** Trump but can’t even tell you anything about how Clinton’s policies would have bettered the life of the common black man or marginalized minority. I like Jay Z but the fact that he’s pro Democrat but doesn’t admit that Democrat policies thrive on a poor unmotivated black populace is the reason why nobody with a properly working mind should listen to celebrities as a source for political reasoning.
It’s unfortunate this place is ran by Europeans. Who can live in Harmony bc of DNA. Republican/Democrat White/Black like people are fucking crayons or something.. They are born with cognitive dissonance and perpetuate duality when the absolute truth is no one will survive without harmony an balance. Politics have never restored balance.
I can wait til they all go back to Europe and the world heals we never needed politics, race is an illusion, and the only thing they do well is death culture war, war and more war… Until balance is brought back it’ll just get more and more ridiculous until the cancer spreads and the world ends….
Hashtags are gei boi like your two dads.
D1Ck STAIN DONALD TRUMPF. The leader of the Third Reich.