J. Cole Recalls First Time Hearing Drake, Explains How He Influenced 'The Warm Up'

J. Cole has reflected on the first time he heard Drake and how the Canadian superstar influenced his breakout mixtape The Warm Up.

During the second episode of his new audio series Inevitable, which finds him chronicling his entire career, the Dreamville rapper recalled stumbling on Drizzy’s music on MySpace and being shocked at how popular he was.

“It was one dude in particular that I remember seeing on MySpace, and he was this light-skinned R&B-looking n-gga, but he had raps,” he said. “It was kind of neo-soul-type raps, like on some Little Brother shit, but he was talking about women or something. The n-gga’s whole demeanor was hella smooth.

“But his plays were through the roof for a n-gga you’ve never heard of or has never been signed! I was like, ‘Who is this n-gga?! How does he have 20,000 plays in a day?!'”

He added: “Come to find out, a couple of years later, [Cole’s friend] Jessica Nabongo put me onto this song from this artist named Drake called ‘Sooner Than Later.’ I was like, ‘This shit is fucking amazing.’ N-gga, I played that shit back to back to back.

“Come to find out, the reason he had all of those plays was because he was already famous and I didn’t know that. He was already a n-gga that was popping off of Degrassi, but I didn’t know Degrassi and I didn’t know who he was.”

Later in the episode, J. Cole spoke about witnessing the seismic impact of Drake’s own breakthrough project So Far Gone and how it inspired him to up his game on The Warm Up.

Recalling his reaction to Drizzy’s “Say What’s Real,” a freestyle over Kanye West‘s “Say You Will,” Cole said: “He fucking destroyed that shit. I was blown away at how much he bodied that fucking beat. I was like, ‘Yo, he’s fucking phenomenal.'”

On the flipside, however, the song made Cole — who at the time was about to sign with JAY-Z‘s Roc Nation — reevaluate his confidence as an artist and realize he was not the only “relatable” rapper on the rise.

“For so long, I felt confident in the fact that I was the only one occupying that space, the only one with that perspective and that sharp of a pen. I was like, ‘That’s gonna be my thing, that’s what’s gonna separate me from the pack,'” he said.

“So the second I heard [‘Say What’s Real’], one, I was blown away because of how good it was. But two, subconsciously I was like, ‘Ha! There was someone else out there the whole time that was working maybe just as hard as I was working, was thinking the same things and who had the same opportunity to occupy a certain lane that I never saw any competition for.'”

He continued: “I didn’t know how big Drake was, I didn’t know the Young Money shit, I didn’t know none of that. So when So Far Gone dropped, that shit literally became a wave in 24 hours.

“Literally the next week we were in Miami or some shit for spring break, and not only were we playing that shit the whole ride down, but when we got to Miami everybody was playing fucking Drake So Far Gone. And you could see right away, ‘Oh shit! This is a fucking phenomenal shift.’

“I’m like, ‘Not only am I not the only one in this space, I’m now actually starting late! My deal with Jay ain’t even done. I’m not even anybody yet. And this n-gga’s off to the races with hits, like cultural-shifting shit.’ At that moment, I had to shift my mindset about what The Warm Up was about to be ’cause Drake just changed the game.”

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Cole explained earlier in the episode that The Warm Up was initially intended to be a mixtape of freestyles to keep his pen sharp, inspired by Kobe Bryant‘s relentless work ethic in the gym.

“I was like, ‘Yo, Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA right now because of the work he puts in everyday. Kobe is working on his game everyday in the off season, so who am I to not write a verse everyday? If he’s going in the gym everyday and putting in work, what the fuck am I doing calling myself a rapper and I’m not rapping and writing everyday?'” he recalled.

“So the initial idea for The Warm Up was a mixtape but it was going to be all freestyles like ‘Just to Get By,’ ‘Grown Simba,’ the ‘2012’ joint […] It was gonna be like practice. It was just getting me ready for what was to come.”

While The Warm Up did feature a handful of freestyles over classic beats from the likes of JAY-Z and Kanye West, the 22-track tape was largely comprised of original songs, including future fan-favorites such as “Lights Please,” “Grown Simba” and “I Get Up.”

Of course, it wouldn’t be long until J. Cole and Drake crossed paths as collaborators as they teamed up on “In the Morning,” which appeared on Cole’s 2010 mixtape Friday Night Lights as well as his debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story.