J. Cole has opened up about the Hip Hop heroes that inspired him to chase greatness and become one of rap’s dignitaries.
Cole recently sat down for an episode of Hart to Heart with Kevin Hart where he paid homage to some of the game’s legends that paved the way like JAY-Z and 2Pac.
“I got a whole list of people who are the reason why I’m here — my north stars that I look up to. Obviously, Pac. Jay, Nas, Eminem, André 3000, Lil Wayne. And these are obviously the big bullets,” he said.
“I had Royce the 5’9 moments. I had Canibus moments. I had Boom Boom moments. But like in terms of the people that fueled my ambition. That showed me what was really possible. Like the first names I named, those are the highest ones. So those were the people where I was like, ‘Yo, I’m tryna get up there.’ In terms of skill, in terms of success, all of that they fueled it.”
Watch the clip below:
These days, Cole is giving props to the new crop of women stars in rap who he feels are creating some of the most exciting moments within the genre.
“It’s a whole different ball game, like a whole different crop of young superstars and styles,” he added. “I’ve been feeling this for like maybe a year or two — I hate to say it ’cause it almost sounds like pandering — but I really do think like, man, it’s a lot of fire female rappers.
“I feel like they’re doing some of the most exciting [stuff], commercially — they’re giving us a lot of fire moments and I feel like that’s something that wasn’t around when we was growing up.”
He continued: “You always had a Lil Kim, a Foxy [Brown], but there could never be more than one almost, it felt like. Now it’s like, bro, we’re getting moments and moments and moments. I think it’s hard.”
As for his own music, J. Cole linked up with his Dreamville partner Bas to dish out an assist on the groovy “Passport Bros” earlier in July.
I thought Mike Jones would be on his list.
People better stop putting Andre 3000 in their list just to be “in”. Dude is overrated as fxck while his partner Big Boi is hell of a rapper with serious rhymes skills and flow.
While I think 3 stacks is a top tier lyricist, it does seem odd that he is always separated from big Boi and added to these top lists with a lack of solo content. It’s a crime how underrated and unappreciated Big Boi is.
3000’s place is cemented, and Big Boi needs to get the credit that he deserves. The amount of quality…”QUALITY” verses that he has blessed us with his so under recognized. Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors to me is criminally slept on. Phantogram & Big Boi’s “Big Grams” is off the hook. He was not the only one that expanded his sound. Those two projects have some really dope that’s the old production. Both Andre and Big Boi deserve the praise.
MF DOOM
Wish more people would mention DOOM. Mmm Food and Madvilliany were such classics. I was really looking forward to his next project before his passing. RIP to the villian
MF Doom is cardi b compared to Andre 3000
dont forget lil baby and soulja boy. top lyricists