For real??? In a recent interview recapping 2014 Forest Hills Drive, critical career moments, and candid talk about moves he trying to make (and not trying to make), J. Cole Speaks On Wanting to Sign Kendrick Lamar.
J. Cole Speaks On Wanting to Sign Kendrick Lamar during an interview further reinforcing his new perspective on life, work, happiness, and the “F*ck Money, Spread Love” mentality. Seems like Cole’s really digging into his new energy and philosophy as he rails into talk about battling expectations, the source of pain, why his “long hair don’t care” attitude, appreciating the journey and living a full life by enjoying the moment absolutely.
As far as the Compton connect, J. Cole Speaks On Wanting to Sign Kendrick Lamar and highlights the following:
“I met Kendrick at when all I had out was The Warm Up, nobody knew who he was, he didn’t have a deal. He was signed to Top Dawg–I didn’t know he was signed to Top–I actually wanted to sign him but I didn’t have my business right and I didn’t know he was with Top,” explained Cole. “In my mind, he was the first person I ever found that I was like, ‘Yo, I’m tellin’ everybody I wanna sign this kid cause this nigga’s nasty!’ What happened was I was at a party in L.A. with this group UNI…At the party, they did a few songs and they brought this short, dark-skinned kid up and I was like, ‘Yo, who is this kid?’ And he gets on the mic and he murders.”
J. Cole Speaks On Wanting to Sign Kendrick Lamar wrapping up the scenario with this:
“I’m a rapper’s rapper and I’m not easily impressed and when I heard him I was instantly like, ‘This nigga’s crazy! I gotta go let him know that he’s ill.’ So I walked up to him like, ‘Yo, my nigga, that shit was crazy,” he continued. “This was 2010 and I just had to let him know…He had met me at the XXL Freshman shoot with Jay Rock playing the background…From that night we clicked and he sent me some records. He sent me these songs “Pussy And Patron,” and “Cut You Off” and I was like, ‘Yo, I’m fuckin’ with this nigga. I wanna sign this nigga!’ From there, I felt compelled to always give him any jewels I could…When I was in the studio with Dre I had to tell Dre like, ‘Yo, you ain’t never heard of Kendrick?’ And he was like, ‘Oh, Kendrick? Yeah, I’m supposed to be meeting with him soon.’ And I was giving him the crazy co-sign like, ‘You gotta fuck with Kendrick!’”
Mhmm…very interesting! He also discussed shifts in Hip Hop, youngsters acknowledging legends but creating their own lane, and relationships. The interviewers definitely did a great job rounding out the topics and making it a different from what we’ve heard so far. If you got the time…check out the full 2-hour interview below!
