The rappers J Cole would imitate to reach greatness
It takes a lot to make an artist. Musicians don’t just emerge from the womb fully-formed—there are a whole lot of life experiences and musical influences that necessarily contribute to their development. J Cole knows that, and, crucially, he has the good grace to acknowledge it.
During an appearance on Hoppus on Music, the talk show hosted by Blink-182 vocalist and bassist Mark Hoppus, Cole reflected on his first steps into rap, aged just 12. “My cousin rapped like a No Limit, Master P-type rapper,” Cole said, “so I was kinda imitating him, like, ‘No Limit Soldier, I’m smokin’ on that doja.’ It was terrible stuff…”
A 12-year-old can be forgiven for rapping badly, but, eventually, Cole started showing off a little in his raps—and that was when he started to land on his own sound. “I started rapping about how much better I was than people,” he said, “and those were my first raps for real. Like, ‘I’m better than you because…’ All my raps were like that.”
Hoppus pressed him about who his influences were at that point during his development. “At that time, Eminem was out,” he replied. “Canibus, Big Pun, Royce da 5′9″, all of these real lyrical, battle rappers. Those are the guys I would imitate. But then I started telling stories more, and I started leaning more towards a Nas or a Tupac, who I’d already loved. But I fell more in love with the way they told stories, and that’s how I evolved. I stopped just rapping about how much better I am than you, and I started actually talking about something.”
This isn’t the only time Cole has spoken publicly about the artists that shaped him. Appearing on Heart to Hart, the comedian Kevin Hart’s show, he elaborated a little more on the people he idolised when he was starting out. “I got a whole list of people who are the reason why I’m here,” he said. “They don’t even know it, but they are like the north stars that I was following. Obviously, there was Pac [Tupac]. Jay [Jay-Z], Nas, Eminem, André 3000, Lil Wayne.”
He went on to give another shout-out to Royce da 5′9″ and Canibus, but it was that first group of bigger stars that were the most significant for Cole. “In terms of the people that really fueled my ambition, and showing me what’s possible,” he said, “the first names I named, those were the highest ones. These were the people [where I was like], ‘Yo, I’m tryna get up there.’ In terms of skill, in terms of success, all of that they fueled it.”
Cole was often compared to one of those idols, Nas, during the early stages of his career. But after the release of his first hit song, ‘Work Out’, he was devastated to learn that Nas didn’t actually like the track. Learning that your hero isn’t into your work would destroy a lot of people, but Cole seems almost to have taken it as a sort of challenge to improve. He wrote the track ‘Let Nas Down’ in response, and, only days later, he unexpectedly encountered Nas himself at an airport.
Proving his self-confidence, he approached his idol and played the track for him. Nas loved it. It’s a truism that we shouldn’t meet our heroes, but, if it’s going to happen, that’s a pretty good way to do it.