J. Cole Reflects On Being A ‘Massive Kanye Fan’ & Shares How Mogul Changed His Life & Music

J. Cole Reflects On Being A ‘Massive Kanye Fan’ & Shares How Mogul Changed His Life & Music

J. Cole’s fandom of OG Kanye West is well known, but in a rare moment, the rap star opened up about how much the 24x Grammy winner really influenced his life.

On his new audio series “Inevitable,” the 39-year-old shared how West, 47, shaped the way he approaches his music, stating:

“I was an aggressive battle rapper that had bars and I was a storyteller of fantasy, like ‘The Storm’ — completely made-up scenarios. I had that, but my life was actually hella regular.”

He continued:

“I didn’t sell no drugs, it was nothing like my favorite rappers. It was nothing like JAY-Z‘s life, it was nothing like what ‘Pac‘s life appeared to be. There was nothing gangster about it. I didn’t know how to talk about my life in a way that people could connect with. And then f*cking Kanye West happened.”

 

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And furthered:

“In the summer of 2003 before I went to college, the ‘Through the Wire’ video dropped — and that sh*t changed my life…I became a massive Kanye fan. Kanye was the first time that I saw myself in somebody,”

Cole added:

“He just made it possible to talk about your life or your regular-a** perspective in a way that’s appealing…This n*gga became my favorite artist at that point. He kinda cracked my mind open.”

Despite Cole’s admiration for West at the start of his career, things seemingly soured between the two over time. It’s widely speculated Cole dissed West on his 2016 single “False Prophets” and again on 2019’s “Middle Child.”

West reportedly demanded a “public apology” from his fellow rapper in the past, and more recently took a jab at Cole on his remix of Metro Boomin and Future’s “Like That” earlier this year.

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