Fayetteville, North Carolina lyricist Rain shares his reaction to the announcement of a partnership between J. Cole’s Dreamville imprint and Interscope Records. In an exclusive conversation with HipHopDX, Rain says that he was excited to hear that Cole—who also hails from Fayetteville—is launching a record label, but was disappointed that no other artists from the North Carolina city were included on the roster.
“Anybody coming from [Fayetteville, North Carolina], I’m excited about,” Rain says. “I’m always pushing for people from The Ville to do they thing. So I was excited when he announced Dreamville, and I was disappointed when I realized there was nobody from The Ville on the label. That’s my personal opinion.”
At the time of announcement, Chicago artist Omen; Boston’s KQuick; and Queens by-way-of Paris emcee, Bas were initially associated with Dreamville. Rain believes that there are number of talented emcees from Fayetteville, North Carolina and that artists from the same area should support each other.
“I saw an interview where they asked him if there was anybody from The Ville that he liked and he didn’t mention anybody,” he says. “To me, that’s confusing because there’s a lot of talent out there. I can go down the list and name a bunch of people that’s doing their thing. That’s the disappointing thing, man, because we’re from The Ville. We’re supposed to be putting on for each other and doing what we gotta do for each other. That’s just me being his brother. So as your brother, if you see something going wrong, I’m gonna speak on it. So it ain’t too late to tighten that up.
“Not to say even me, because we spoke about that before,” Rain continues. “We’ve had those conversations before. But there’s a lot of people there that are really dope that deserve a shot. You see people from Atlanta, Georgia; California; New York and when they get on, they put people on. You see [French Montana] doing his thing then you see [Chinx Drugs] right behind him. You see different people and they’re getting on and putting people on that’s been around them from the beginning or been around them grinding through the trenches. You always wanna see people put on people from their town. You see [Kendrick Lamar] and [ScHoolboy Q]. It’s a thing that’s supposed to happen, even if your man ain’t the nicest. It’s supposed to happen so it kind of confuses me.”
Rain Plans To Launch Live Fast, Die Young Entertainment
J. Cole and Rain have worked together. In 2009, Rain released “Come Home To Me,” which was produced by J. Cole. That same year, a video was released of the Fayetteville artists working together in the studio.
“Do y’all know that everything that I’m just now doing—the Tony Touch shit, The Green Lantern, even the [DJ Enuff] shit tonight—everything that I’m doing, Rain, either he already did or he’s doing,” J. Cole says in the video. “And he don’t have no deal. He was in XXL way before me. That’s big…I was home about a month ago. I dropped some beats off to Rain. He hit me up the next day, literally. I probably never met a harder working rapper.”
Rain says he plans to launch Live Fast, Die Young Entertainment and aims to give “people from The Ville a shot.” He also announces the title to his next album.
“The new album coming out, A Perfect Day To Die,” Rain says. “I swear to God it’s a movie. It’s a movie. If you liked Live Fast, Die Young, this is that with more aggression. I got more to talk about. I got better stories and I’m getting better and I’m more confident. I got a good team behind me and we’re getting better day-by-day.”
J Cole is an Army brat, so he really doesn’t have a hometown. He was born in Germany, so Fayetteville is just a pit stop. You hear how he tries to talk with a NYC accent?
Dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Cole spent a majority of his childhood and life in Fayettville before going to college.
And the NY accent, probably because he spent 4 years in Queens…. people naturally adapt to their environment and the associated colloquial terminology.
So chill with that.
^ J Cole isn’t from NC, so maybe you should do better research. Second off only fake people adopt accents from a city or state they aren’t originally from. Lastly you probably think Antawn Jamison is from NC, even though he moved there in 7th grade.
By your logic, it’s impossible to be influenced by an environment other than the one your born into. Do you feel that way about speaking a language other than English as well, you fucking idiot? Learn to influence the world around you instead of being influenced by it.
Its always fucked up when people get on and have new faces around them. Rain is hot though so he will get his soon.
J Cole seems like one of those dudes who wanted to come up dolo so he wouldn’t have to deal with sabotage from other artists, or someone else from NC takin that spot. Gotta give respect to 9th Wonder, dude stays puttin on NC artists
Smart move
Rain and JCole go way back, he should’ve been the 1st considered for the Dreamville label because Rain is Nice!! And 9th Wonder signed a handful of NC artists, then tries to block anyone else from NC trying to make it. He tried to stop JCole’s deal, ask him about that! Every GOOD artist from NC has to fight to get any kind of shine, not because the talent isnt there, its because certain politics and people that could help, choose not to, but act like they do. Do your research.
THAT BOY RAIN CAN SPIT!!!! HE SHOULD BE ON DREAMVILLE!!!! WAKE UP COLE!!!!
DON’T HATE ON MY OPINION!!!!
Don’t Hate on J Cole
Rain is just Cory Gunz weedcarrier
I don’t owe you niggas shit!
Yes u do u ungrateful lightskinned nigga!!!
Cole doesnt owe anybody SHIT! He went to NY BY HIMSELF!!! he came up and his day1 niggaz are still with him. Why yall expect him to help artists from NC that didnt fuck with him before the fame? FUCK DAT NOISE!
Rain actually played a big part in helping J. Cole get his record deal. He doesn’t brag about it but its a known fact. It will all come out soon.
The fact that he’s not signed anybody from there now doesn’t mean he ain’t working on it or ain’t gonna do so in the near future,chill out man….
That is true but for J. Cole to do a interview and say there is no one from his city that is making any noise is confusing when he admits to being a fan of Rain. I see where Rain is coming from. I’m glad he doesnt seem bitter about it. Its his opinion.
Struggling Nigga On J. Cole: I Want To Be On His Record Label Because I Want To Jump On His Bandwagon And Get Rich Off Of His Success
Who the fuck are the rappers from Fayetteville? LOL fuck outta here u fuck ass country niggaz, rap ain’t for y’all
You crabs just can’t stop hating can’t you? LoL
^
^^ Wow, how the fuck you hate on the Bronx?!?!? That’s like white people hating on blacks but listening to our music. I hope Lord Jamar call your ass out.
real talk
just because this dude is from the same town that J. Cole reps, that doesn’t mean he or anyone else from Fayetteville should be on the label. if Cole throws a bunch of average dudes on his label just because of the location they rep, it’ll turn into a joke.
y’all lay off on Cole…he’s figuring out the industry slowly, but surely.
This guy must be joking, Cole reps for the ville in every fucking song nigga
TO ALL Y’ALL CLOWNS JUST TALKING. I’M FROM FAYETTENAM, RAIN IS RIGHT. JAYZ SIGNED BEANS, BEANS SIGNED HOW MANY PHILLY NIGGAS. DIDDY SIGNED A HARLEM NIGGA MASE. CAM SIGNED JUELZ. 50 SIGNED BANKS AND YAYO. COME ON COLE YOU KNOW WHAT WE HAVE IN THIS CITY AND NOT ONE ARTIST ON YOUR LABEL. HELL READ THE END OF THE ARTICLE AND COLES QUOTES HE KNOWS RAIN IS NICE, RAIN WROTE FOR DETOX A COUPLE OF YEARS BACK. RAIN WAS ASKED ABOUT COLES LABEL HE WAS TALKING ABOUT HIS OWN SHIT HE HAS GOING AND JUST KEPT IT REAL. AND FOR THE RECORD I WOULD HAVE ATLEAST BEEN COOL WITH A CAROLINA NIGGA ON THE LABEL NORTH OR SOUTH. SO STOP ALL THAT JCOLE WENT TO NY. HE WENT TO COLLEGE THERE PERIOD. HE’S FROM FAYETTEVILLE AND PERFECTED HIS CRAFT AROUND FAYETTEVILLE ARTISTS LIKE RAIN. HE WAS NICE WHEN HE LEFT THEN ALL NY DID WAS PUT HIM WITH HIS MANAGER M. PITTS WHO HAD CONNECTS.
WHATEVER YOU SAY MR CAPS LOCK
Ain’t nobody in Fayetteville worth signing. A bunch of bum niggas. It makes sense to sign people who are actually dope.
Cole isn’t originally from Fayetteville, that was just where he finished high school at, because his parent retired from the military there lol.
Out of all those ppl you jus mentioned, how many are still rapping? Thats the thingg, you nigga thing this rap thing is a joke. But yet you get mad when nigga like Macklemore winning. It shouldn’t just be because your hommies so you get signed. This rap shit should be taken seriously for the better of the culture
Gay Cole is wack. And he is a simple dumb ass who looks up to nasqueer jones. I have no respect for that boring no personality corny Aqueerius cornball cole. Even drake is better than this lame and drake is also wack. Disagree with this truth if your gay.
I respect J.cole’s music and like a few of of his songs very much, but i do agree he is very boring and his lyrics are largely unoriginal. Why bad mouth nas though? it’s not his fault that young rappers worship him, he is a legend in this game and if you disagree then you are “gay”.
Part of the wackiness that killed hip hop for a decade was due to signing cats JUST BECAUSE they were from the same hometown. Look at how many crews there was in the 2000-2010 time frame. How many are still around? D-12 is a perfect example. If your serious about your business, you’ll leave the kiddie shit in the rearview and put people on who are gonna give you a profitable return, as is such with any job.
J. Cole sucks and so does this guy. Hey keep following your dreams though..
Dude is basically saying, “Hey J.cole sign me prettty please”.
yup
Stronger Than Ever by Raleigh Ritchie
This should be titled Rain on J. Cole’s Dreamville: I’m Disappointed That I Am Not On The Label.
I’ve actually watched a couple of this guy’s videos (due to being subscribed to URL’s YouTube and them promoting him), NONE of which were impressive. He is a decent rapper, but there are a million decent rappers, none of which I want to waste time listening to. Why listen to decent rappers when you can listen to DOPE rappers?
And if he’s so concerned about putting on Fayetteville rappers and thinks there are so many talented artists, why didn’t he mention any? Not even a single one…
This dude… Man stop whining and make your music. Luda didnt cry saying Outkast should put him on. Kanye didnt cry about not getting put on by Common. Big Krit didnt cry about not getting put on by David Banner. You must be not what J.Cole is looking for to be put on. Yet you didnt put nobody on from your town. Stop it.
Gucci Mane – Murked a nigga close to Jeezy and got away with it
Jeezy – He real too, nigga was movin bricks before this rap shit came about
8Ball – The only nicca claimin to be a pimp that actually was a pimp
T.I. – Was a real hustler, even tho he was just a small time kind of nicca sellin rocks on the corner
Scarface – Got caught fuckin a corpse in a morgue and was sent to a psych ward
J. Prince – The Suge of the South, nikka got ties with every gang from the Guerrilla Family to the La Eme, even tho he fucked over a whole lot a nikkas
Willie D – After he got out of Geto Boys, nigga turned Houston into a war zone between Fifth Ward & South Acres, niggas had a sit down later and squashed that on some L.A. gang peace treaty shit
Lil Troy – Nigga was also moving major shipments before becoming a rapper
5000 Watts & Ron C – Same as Troy/Jeezy
Lord Infamous – Was known for hitting licks around the Memphis area
As you can see, there’s NO North Carolina niccaz on this list cause all y’all is FAKE
Fuck your list
I mean damn, they just got a label. Can they seek out talent first? You’re not going to get signed just because you’re from the same city.
Some thorough niccas from Charlotte told me Anthony Hamilton is by far the realest nicca to ever come out of NC
Please tell me how fuccin a corpse makes you a REAL nicca or a better rapper than someone else? Your fact are wack. Stfd pls
This was for THE REALEST NIKKAS IN THE SOUTH ARE
and their ridiculous list!