Honey Magazine recently caught up with Rocnation signee, J. Cole to discuss his early struggles finding a rap name, How close he and Jay-Z are, His latest mixtape: "The Warmup", How his new found fame has affected his relationships with women and comparisions betweeb him and Drake. Here's a snippet of the interview:
It’s funny that you compare it to sports, because a lot of rappers
put their “practices” on the web. But you started off taking a bit more of the
traditional route. If you could, would you have gone back and tried pushing
harder on the blogs?
Nah, I think the way I did it was perfect. I’m not going to say that’s the
way I had planned, but that’s the way I believed in. I saw it as you’re supposed
to put your best foot forth at all times. So I stuck to my guns. I put out one
mixtape before I got my deal. My second mixtape came after. You see what I’m
saying? I got my deal based strictly off the music.
How do you
think that benefits you?
I’m like a mystery. If I was one of these rappers heavy on the blogs,
but without a deal and had gotten signed with Jay-Z, it wouldn’t have caused the
same effect. People would’ve just been like “Oh, that’s what’s up. He’s been
grinding for a minute. Rather than, “Who’s that?”
True. Speaking of Hov, Wale was recently interviewed in VIBE saying
he gets to talk to Jay more than anyone else. As Roc Nation’s first artist,
what’s your relationship like with him?
I don’t even speak to him close to that much. I’m all about…you earn
shit. Even though I signed that deal, you ain’t going to catch me in every
picture throwing up…
A Roc sign?
Yeah and just eating off that brand. That time is going to come. They put
in years worth of work to build that up and it would be phony for me to just
come in because I got signed and now the next day I’m so Roc’d out. Nah. You
have to earn the right to be Jay’s friend. He has to be impressed with you as a
person. He’s not obligated to hang out with you now that you’re signed to his
label. I mean a year from now who knows what shit will be like. So I speak to
Jay when it’s necessary and when it’s appropriate.
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