A Conversation with J. Cole – HuffPost 10.3.11

Mike Ragogna: How are you doing, Cole?

J. Cole: I’m excellent. How are you doing, brother?

MR: Excellent. You have a new album, Cole World: The Sideline Story. Let’s get into that title.

JC: The title is a Tupac title, actually. The Cole World, I guess is basically saying, “Don’t expect to get treated friendly because anything is liable to happen.” So, that’s the Cole World part, and my fans really gravitate towards that. The Sideline Story is more like a chapter of the story that we’re in. People that follow me know I kind of use these basketball analogies. So, in that analogy, right now we’ve made the team, but the problem is that we’re just sitting on the bench and we never get in the game. It’s like your parents are in the crowd, they come to every game, but you never play. The Sideline Story is my struggle to get in the game, aka, put out an album.

MR: That’s great, man. Vibe magazine says that you’re one of the top five rappers under thirty years old in the country, and the BET Awards nominated you for best new artist. I have to ask you, with that kind of acknowledgment already, and given the spirit of your first album, do you feel a kind of responsibility to further that message yourself?

JC: Yeah, I mean, I do. I had plans of always being the best–that was just the thing I always wanted to be, and I still do. I’m a natural competitor, so even when I succeed and people congratulate me, I always feel behind the curve. I always feel like I have more work to do because somebody out there doesn’t know about me. That’s my goal, to a) get better, and b) get bigger.

MR: Right, and the bigger picture is that you may have some of it done, but you’ve got to keep it going.

JC: Absolutely, and that’s how I live my life. I’m never satisfied, I’m never content, and I always feel like there’s something that could be improved upon.

MR: Nice. Now, in your video for “Can’t Get Enough,” you feature Trey Songz–who’s also on the recording–and you also have Rihanna showing up.

JC: Yeah, Rihanna’s in the video, and that’s because we shot it in Barbados, which is her home country. So, it was only right that she came to represent her country.

MR: It’s also cool because you were also on tour with her a while back, right?

JC: Absolutely. I was opening up on the Rihanna: Live tour this summer, which was just a great experience for me.

MR: Looking at some of the other guests on this record, you’ve got Jay-Z–one of the people that played an important role in you getting discovered, right?

JC: Yeah, absolutely. I’m signed to Jay-Z’s label Roc Nation. Mark Pitts is my manager–at the time he wasn’t my manager–and he played this song I had called “Lights Please” for Jay-Z. Jay-Z heard the song and was like, “Man, get me this kid.” Sure enough, I had a meeting with him. By the way, I had been working for years before that, just to get in the door–that’s my whole story, just the struggle to get noticed in this game. When it all was said and done, I finally did catch a break, and it’s Jay-Z that I caught it with.

MR: You’ve also have Drake and Missy Elliott on this album.

JC: That’s right.

MR: Cole, you’re friends with everybody, and you’ve been on so many hit records.

JC: You know what? I’ve been blessed to have all these people enjoy my music. I only got four features on the album, and to be able to get a Missy Elliott feature was really incredible for me.

MR: Looking at the way that you’ve been releasing music over the past few years, you’ve been pretty creative with things like the “Simba” series, which I thought was a pretty cool concept. Can you go into what motivates these different kinds of projects?

JC: I like connecting themes, so the first Simba song I had was like, “I can’t wait to be king…young Simba.” So, I just took that metaphor of Simba knowing that one day he was going to be king. The second one was just continuing on those feelings of what is meaningful. I’ve got another series called “Dollar And A Dream.” My album Cole World: The Sideline Story starts with a song called “Dollar And A Dream III” so, people who don’t know about me will be like, “Whoa, ‘Dollar And A Dream III’? Where’s I and II? I thought this was his first album.” That will force them to go back and do some homework and do their research. My fans connect instantly because they’ve been there from day one, and they know about I and II. So, it’s cool for the fans to connect with.

MR: Yeah, and, of course, your fans would know you from your great mix tapes like, The Warmup and Friday Night Lights.

JC: Absolutely, that’s what they know me from. That’s the whole reason I am what I am now, and the reason that I could even put out an album right now. I don’t have a smash radio hit right now. I’m really just putting out an album on the basis of my fans and my followers, which comes from those mix tapes and touring for the last couple of years.

MR: Cole, another cool thing is that you offered free downloads with your Any Given Sunday series. That must have been very fulfilling, to give your fans something back?

JC: Yeah, absolutely. I knew my fans had been waiting for a long time, and I know they get antsy, so doing that was really just trying to give them something to hold them over ’til the album. I’m connected with my fans and I know how much they want new music, so Any Given Sunday was just me being like, “Alright, let me put out some songs to kind of appease them right now.” It’s a little appetizer before the whole meal.

MR: That’s great. Hey, what is the most personal song to you on this album?

JC: The most personal song is called “Breakdown,” it’s the last song on the album. It’s super personal and emotional. When I finished that song, I felt like I went on a roller coaster ride because that’s how heavy it is, emotionally. That’s the most personal, but my favorite might be the Missy record right now. It’s such a good song, and that hook is so powerful.

MR: The song is “Nobody’s Perfect,” do you think that will eventually be one of the singles?

JC: Yeah, that’s going to be next, after the Trey Songz record, “Can’t Get Enough,” that will be next.

MR: Cool. You also have a brand new video for “Daddy’s Little Girl,” right?

JC: Yeah, that’s a bonus song on the album, and we show a video for that. I love that video. The song concept is about women who are kind of living a wild lifestyle, kind of promiscuous, and how did that happen? What was the “dad” correlation with that? Did he not give you enough attention? Was he not around? The video kind of deals with that too. It flashes back and forth between this girl that used to be in ballet, but now she’s a stripper. You just fill in the blanks of what happened. Did her father not come to the ballet performances? Was he just not around? Did she get abused? I love that song and that concept.

MR: Now, they say that you’ve got the New York rap style, but you have lots of other influences. Do you feel like you’ve learned from the best in the field?

JC: Yeah, because I study them. I learn from them without them ever having to talk to me. I study the Andre 3000s, the Tupacs, Nas, Jay-Z, Eminem. Before I even met these guys, I had their style absorbed into my style. At any given time, I could write a rap that would sound exactly like one of those guys because that’s how much I’ve studied them. It just makes me stronger to have that type of ability. It’s like, you know, Kobe Bryant is going to study Michael Jordan–and he has–and you clearly see that. Great players are going to study the great players and take what they can from them.

MR: Very nice. Okay, I’m going to flip that around a little now and ask you what advice you have for new artists?

JC: Man, I would say, “Take your time.” I just got my first numbers in. I just got a call with the incredible numbers that I sold on the first day, so I’m just buzzing right now. That’s incredible first day and first week numbers coming from a guy that doesn’t have a smash radio hit, and how did that happen? Because I took my time. I had a two-year journey just to put out my first album. I put out projects and toured. I would tell all new artists that it’s better when you take your time and build a family.

MR: That’s beautiful. Are you going on tour to support the record?

JC: Yeah, I’m on tour right now. I actually had to jump off tour just to go do promo stuff, but I’ve been on tour for about a month and a half. We started in Canada, we’re in the States right now, we’ll go through the U.K. in October, and then we’ll do the rest of Europe up until mid-December. So, I’m traveling and working super hard.

MR: Cole, we’d love to have you back sometime to get a progress report on what’s going on with you, okay?

JC: Absolutely man, I appreciate it and I can’t wait ’til next time.

Transcribed by Ryan Gaffney