J. Cole has given credit to Kanye West for changing his life and becoming a primary influence on his music.
Speaking on his new audio series Inevitable, the Dreamville rapper reflected on the profound impact that Kanye had on him when he was still honing his craft.
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“I was an aggressive battle rapper that had bars and I was a storyteller of fantasy, like ‘The Storm’ — completely made-up scenarios. I had that, but my life was actually hella regular,” he said.
“I didn’t sell no drugs, it was nothing like my favorite rappers. It was nothing like JAY-Z‘s life, it was nothing like what ‘Pac‘s life appeared to be. There was nothing gangster about it. I didn’t know how to talk about my life in a way that people could connect with. And then fucking Kanye West happened.”
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Cole went on to credit Ye with helping him drop the façade and embrace his true personality in his music.
“In the summer of 2003 before I went to college, the ‘Through the Wire’ video dropped — and that shit changed my life,” he continued. “I became a massive Kanye fan. Kanye was the first time that I saw myself in somebody. He just made it possible to talk about your life or your regular-ass perspective in a way that’s appealing.
“This n-gga became my favorite artist at that point. He kinda cracked my mind open.”
J. Cole on how Kanye’s music changed his life & helped influence his rapping 👀
“My life was hella regular… It was nothing like my favorite rappers, I didn’t know how to talk about MY life. And then, f***ing Kanye West happened.”
“The ‘Through The Wire’ video dropped and that… pic.twitter.com/ptFyZzUKyy
— NFR Podcast (@nfr_podcast) November 19, 2024
Despite his deep fandom, J. Cole has had a complicated relationship with Kanye West since rising to fame himself.
His 2016 song “False Prophets” was widely interpreted as a diss against his Hip Hop hero with lines like: “Justifying that half ass shit he dropped, we always buy it / When he tell us he a genius but it’s clearer lately / It’s been hard for him to look into the mirror lately / There was a time when this n-gga was my hero, maybe / That’s the reason why his fall from grace is hard to take.”
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Cole also appeared to jab the rap icon and fashion designer on 2019’s “Middle Child,” spitting: “If I smoke a rapper, it’s gon’ be legit / It won’t be for clout, it won’t be for fame / It won’t be ’cause my shit ain’t sellin’ the same / It won’t be to sell you my latest lil’ sneakers / It won’t be ’cause some n-gga slid in my lane.”
Kanye later demanded a “public apology” from the North Carolina native, alluding to his lyrical darts.
More recently, Yeezy fired a shot of his own at J. Cole on his remix of Future, Metro Boomin and Kendrick Lamar’s “Like That,” rapping: “Play J. Cole, get the pussy dry.”
He also disparaged the Dreamville founder for apologizing to Kendrick and backing out of their short-lived battle.
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“Fuck all that pussy shit. Fuck all that shit, man,” he said in an interview with Justin Laboy. “Because it’s like, that n-gga J. Cole went on tour with Drake. He knows what it is. It’s like, n-gga, you can’t run now.”
Ye added: “I don’t listen to J. Cole so I wouldn’t even know. I just heard he had a song called ‘False Idols’ [sic] and somebody told me it’s halfway about me.”
