Latest J. Cole Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• You go to any town, any city, any state in America and there's always a McDonald's. In a lot of places around the world, it's almost the same thing. And Nikki Giovanni was like, "Damn, where are we keeping all these cows?" And it made me think to myself, like, "Damn, where are we keeping all these cows?!" It makes me think that the beef we're eating isn't even close to being real. There can't even be enough cows in the whole world just to sustain the appetites of just Americans! I'll always remember that.

  J. Cole

  Real, Thinking, World

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

• I never really told anybody that I'm a rapper. I wasn't walking around being like, "Yo, check out my mixtape!" It was more of a secret grind.

  J. Cole

  Rapper, Secret, Grind

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

• I was inspired by, when I was in college, seeing some incredible speakers come to my school: Michael Eric Dyson, Spike Lee, Nikki Giovanni, and other poets and writers. I always loved that experience: going and sitting in an auditorium and listening to their opinions.

  J. Cole

  School, College, Listening

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

• I didn't even have to be a big fan of someone to enjoy hearing them speak. I remember when Nikki Giovanni came - I wasn't really familiar with her. But she said some things I'll never forget. Like, okay, for example, she was talking about the amount of beef that's in the world. There are so many McDonald's, Burger Kings, Wendy's.

  J. Cole

  World, Remember, Never Forget

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

• You can't take yourself too seriously. Like, yeah, I'm doin' all that, but still I don't feel like I've done anything, really. I feel blessed 'cause I'm doin' all these things, but I'm not satisfied. I still have that feeling like, "Who am I? Who am I to have an ego? Who am I to change up and act like some Hollywood character?" Technically, in the grand scheme of things, I haven't done anything.

  J. Cole

  Blessed, Character, Ego

  Source: www.djbooth.net

• College had a great deal to do with my development as a person. I don't know if I'd be the artist I was if it wasn't for goin' to school like that. School is a good place - it ain't for everybody, but I think it's for most people.

  J. Cole

  School, Thinking, Artist

  Source: www.djbooth.net

• I think all you can really do is use the tour to kinda fill up with experiences and thoughts, and then, when you get back to the studio, or in some type of creative environment, that's when you release everything that you've encountered on tour.

  J. Cole

  Thinking, Creative, Use

  Source: www.djbooth.net

• My Mother's an actress, and she's always told me, "Boy, you're an actor." I would look forward to seeing if I'm any good. I want to be good at it, that's the only thing.

  J. Cole

  Mother, Boys, Actresses

  Source: www.hiphopcanada.com

• In marriage you got to go through the same struggles as a relationship, that's if the relationship is real, because there's a lot of non-real relationships going on in the world right now. And I think that's just because of the day and age we're in, a lot of these relationships are taking place over text messages, it's not real substance. But when you got a real one, it's already like a marriage.

  J. Cole

  Real, Struggle, Thinking

  Source: www.hiphopcanada.com

• I feel like relationships are a beautiful thing, period. Relationships can be really beautiful, they can be really hard, they can be really rewarding, or they can be bad relationships where it's really detrimental and hurtful, but that's life, period.

  J. Cole

  Beautiful, Bad Relationship, Hurtful

  Source: www.hiphopcanada.com

• Marriage is just a relationship to me. In my experience, when you've been in a relationship for as long as I've been in one, there's no real difference. It's just a piece of paper that validates what was already real.

  J. Cole

  Real, Differences, Long

  Source: www.hiphopcanada.com

• I wish I studied more religions, I wish I read the Bible, the Quran. I think as I get older, I will start to really dive into religions, just because I feel like there's truths in all of those books. Clearly. I'm saying there's truths in all of them.

  J. Cole

  Book, Thinking, Wish

  Source: www.wbur.org

• It's the way I enjoy making art - I like sitting down and making five beats; I enjoy that process. I can go two weeks without making a song and just making beats and I'll be OK.

  J. Cole

  Song, Art, Two

  Source: www.wbur.org

• I wanna show you I can out-rap your favorite rappers. I wanna show you I can out-produce your favorite producers. So I'm constantly getting better and I understand that there's always room for growth, especially in quality, sonic quality.

  J. Cole

  Rap, Growth, Quality

  Source: www.wbur.org

• When I first started rapping, when I switched my style to more like a punch line style - this is when I'm like 13 years old - and I switched it to this real wordy - I was trying to rap like Canibus and like Eminem. It was real lyrical, real wordy and punch lines and, when I would come up with these punch lines and spit 'em in these cyphers, the minute the cyphers would be like, "Ohhh" and everybody would break away, it was a new feeling for me. It was like, "Oh, yo, you see what I just did?" I was addicted to that feeling, and I still love that feeling.

  J. Cole

  Real, Rap, Years

  Source: www.wbur.org

• A lot of my music is just self-observation. Like telling you, "Oh man. What did I just do? How much did I just pay for this chain? Why did I do that? Wait a minute." Let me talk about that. Or like, the temptation. Let me talk about that. Let me observe myself.

  J. Cole

  Men, Self, Waiting

  Source: www.wbur.org

• When composing music, I just start spilling things out and then wait until they take form, you know what I mean, until I see like a common thread or something.

  J. Cole

  Mean, Common Threads, Waiting

  Source: www.wbur.org

• There's always people out there that's like, doubting me, you know what I mean? Even though I do embrace the people that embrace me and I'm grateful for them. But I always feel like, man, there's still people out there that's not giving it up. And I feel like I'm doing everything the right way, you know what I mean? I'm really going out of my way to do it the right way. I'm taking very few cheats - very few cheat codes that I'm using.

  J. Cole

  Grateful, Mean, Men

  Source: www.wbur.org

• There's still value in a CD, even if it's just nostalgic. People are still willing to pay. But it can't compare to a digital-only release where you can control the exact time that it'll come out, you know what I mean? So whoever finds how to bridge that gap is gonna make a lot of money.

  J. Cole

  Mean, Cds, Bridges

  Source: www.wbur.org

• School is a good place - it ain't for everybody, but I think it's for most people.

  J. Cole

  School, Thinking, People

  Source: djbooth.net

• When you're a producer on top of that, just havin' a beat that's hot is not enough. Now you know your sound, 'cause you've been workin' on your sound for so long, and now you're extra picky. You might do a beat that's ill, that the average rapper would pay big money to get on, but you don't wanna do it because you're like, "Ehhh... it's not what I'm looking for, it's not what I'm goin' for." So you're extra picky.

  J. Cole

  Rapper, Average, Long

  Source: djbooth.net

• I don't wanna forget the fact that I wanna be one of the best rappers. I feel like some of the best rappers ever - 2Pac, namely, one of them - could take sub-par beats or average beats and turn them into incredible songs.

  J. Cole

  Song, Rapper, Average

  Source: djbooth.net

• When you're a rapper, just a rapper, you have to kind of settle for whatever comes your way - if a beat is hot, you wanna rap on it, period.

  J. Cole

  Rap, Hot, Way

  Source: djbooth.net

• I'm the type of person where, A., I look at things as challenges, I like challenges and, B., I truly believe that you determine your own destiny.

  J. Cole

  Believe, Destiny, Challenges

  Source: djbooth.net

• I truly believe that I make my path and I set my course, and where I land, at the end of the day, or the end of my career, [is] because of me. Of course, you get help along the way, and cosigns and management and opportunities and things like that but overall, the ball is in your court basically.

  J. Cole

  Believe, Opportunity, Land

  Source: djbooth.net