NAS & J. COLE Cover Vibe Magazine/Interview
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Interview:
http://www.vibe.com/photo-gallery/vibe-summer-2013-cover-j-cole-and-nas
http://youtu.be/1r_gqCAnCbc
VIBE: This is the first time you two are seeing each other since Nas dropped his response record to “Let Nas Down.” We’ve heard J. Cole’s take on your critique of “Work Out,” but what was your initial response?
NAS: When I heard Cole on Friday Night Lights, I was like, “Yo, this kid is nice! Who the ? is this?” I’m listening like, “Wow.” No one makes me want to write; he made me want to write. So of course I couldn’t wait for the whole album. I’m wondering are you gonna be underground? Commercial? Only the finest artists can balance that. And I was looking for his first single to be a disgusting, gritty kinda record that would change things.
J. COLE: You ain’t gotta be nice about it. You can be like, “Yo, I hated that ? .
”NAS: Fast forward, I’m in the studio with No I.D., who’s a hip-hop purist, and he’s like, “I gotta play this [‘Work Out’] record.” And he had a face like he was disappointed. You know that face, too.
J. COLE: I already know, man. Like he’s hurt.
NAS: He’s hurt. So I’m already prepared to be hurt. So when it comes on, it got all the things that you need to be on the radio; there was a noise in the track I was a little annoyed with. I’m like, “Damn, what is this ? ?” ’Cause my man can change this whole ? . The part that really ? me up was the “Straight up, now tell me” part.[All laugh]
NAS: I wanted to throw something out the window. ’Cause you know what it made me do? I said, “Do I [need to] make this kind of a record?” I questioned myself ’cause I’m like this is the guy, here. I play it again, and now I’m ? . I’m mad. It ruined my session. We sat there and just talked about Cole and his art.
J. COLE: On the flip side, when I added that Paula Abdul part, I was so excited. I been plotting on using that since I was 14. I had a song with my mans. We had a group together, and it was a flip on that. It was a victory for me—it was self-produced. I wrote the ? , I ain’t have no big feature. And I had a single that would finally work. But I can absolutely see the other side of it. The fans were like, “Oh my ? .” Now I can laugh about this ? .
NAS: At the end of the day, it’s a clever record. Don’t get it twisted. ’Cause like when Cole says, “You the guy that made ‘You Owe Me,’ and ? ” [on “Let Nas Down”]—which killed me. When I heard that, I was laughing my ass off—I was like touché. That’s my ? , for the record. But like I said in the [“Let Nas Down”] remix, on my fourth album I got a lot of different fans that I’m tryna holla at. So you’re trying ? like that. But on album one is when you make that spark that lasts forever. It was a good album, though. And now he’s done it again. So you good in my book.
J. COLE: They say you got your whole life to make your first album. For me, I had to give so much of my life stories, so much of my rhymes on the mixtapes The Come Up, The Warm Up and Friday Night Lights. My first album was like my fourth. I had a conversation with Jay after I played him “Let Nas Down,” and the ? was like, “I got to figure my ? out on Vol. 1.; I already had my classic Reasonable Doubt in the stash.” To me, “Work Out” was successful, and I’m happy for it. But it was still me learning how to balance. I gave you “Crooked Smile,” I gave you “Power Trip.” That’s how you maintain yourself. When Jay did “Sunshine,” that was a learning lesson. They play that right now, the ? would probably run out of the room. But he probably wouldn’t have been able to make “Hard Knock Life” had he not tried to make “Sunshine.”
NAS: Definitely.When you first heard J. Cole, did you understand the comparisons that people were making?
NAS: I didn’t look at it like that. I wanted to make my own opinion. I was like, let’s hear what he’s saying. He’s his own man, and I listened to it from that point of view. I wasn’t looking for me in him. I been inspired by tons of people; he’s been inspired by tons of people. When we do what we do, we sound like us. To me, Cole sounds like Cole. There can be some things I listen to and I wonder if I inspired that or if it’s something I would’ve thought of or would’ve tried to rhyme or whatever, but that’s him. That’s a great compliment that there’s someone who likes what I do—because this dude is nice, so you’re bigging me up.
J. COLE: ? , it’s like of course you’re gonna see hints because that ? in my DNA. I studied him so much, it’s always gonna spill out some way. But it’s a lotta ? in my DNA, just like there’s a lot in him. You see Kobe do a fade-away and you be like, “Okay, that’s Jordan.” There’s hints of everybody in these guys’ game, but what makes me my own man, what makes him his own man is that we develop. You gravitate towards what you like. I studied Eminem; he wasn’t studying Eminem. He was studying ? that Eminem was studying, so he already had his DNA settled. Of course you gon’ hear lines—I write like, “Damn my ? Nas would’ve been proud of this ? , with the rhyme schemes.”One commonality is that you’re both great hip-hop storytellers. What makes for a good story? Are there specific approaches you guys take?
NAS: Details. When I write a story, I just wanna tell you what’s in my head. It can come from real life and then turn into fantasy, stuff just rhyming. And write about what you know. I just like to tell stories that have not been told or [told] from my perspective. When I pick up albums I’m looking for stories. Tell me something that’s going on other than the fact that you the ? .
J. COLE: That’s real. It’s no coincidence that all the greatest rappers—whoever you put in your top five—I guarantee you they a great storyteller. B.I.G. could paint that picture, but his flow is like liquid. This ? [Nas] paint a picture, and his ? so detail-oriented. And then he’ll come and give you the conversational piece of it. Like, he’ll put himself in the shoes from the perspective of himself then go back to describing ? . With some people it’s too much detail. He balances the detail with action and a real beginning, middle and end—and emotion. To me, emotion makes the best stories. ’Pac is one of the illest lyricists, but that’s why his stories are so ? crazy ’cause he’s gonna give you the emotion.Is hip-hop lyricism experiencing a renaissance now? What’s the state of the genre?
J. COLE: It’s heading into another golden era. It might not be there just yet, but it’s getting there. Look at the options you got right now. I remember around the time Hip Hop Is Dead was coming out, I knew why you was saying it. Rap was a ? joke. It was a singles-driven market. But even when I was unsigned, I knew with what I was doing that this was gon’ turn around. I didn’t know at the same time that Kendrick was somewhere studying, going hard. Drake was somewhere studying, going hard. ? is getting back to caring about rapping again. And really taking this ? seriously, clowning ? that’s wack. There’s a real divided line of ? that can rap and ? that just can’t. And you can get your money and it’s all good. We still respect you and we gon’ play your song. But when you look at these guys, way different
http://www.vibe.com/photo-gallery/vibe-summer-2013-cover-j-cole-and-nas
http://youtu.be/1r_gqCAnCbcVIBE: This is the first time you two are seeing each other since Nas dropped his response record to “Let Nas Down.” We’ve heard J. Cole’s take on your critique of “Work Out,” but what was your initial response?
NAS: When I heard Cole on Friday Night Lights, I was like, “Yo, this kid is nice! Who the ? is this?” I’m listening like, “Wow.” No one makes me want to write; he made me want to write. So of course I couldn’t wait for the whole album. I’m wondering are you gonna be underground? Commercial? Only the finest artists can balance that. And I was looking for his first single to be a disgusting, gritty kinda record that would change things.
J. COLE: You ain’t gotta be nice about it. You can be like, “Yo, I hated that ? .
”NAS: Fast forward, I’m in the studio with No I.D., who’s a hip-hop purist, and he’s like, “I gotta play this [‘Work Out’] record.” And he had a face like he was disappointed. You know that face, too.
J. COLE: I already know, man. Like he’s hurt.
NAS: He’s hurt. So I’m already prepared to be hurt. So when it comes on, it got all the things that you need to be on the radio; there was a noise in the track I was a little annoyed with. I’m like, “Damn, what is this ? ?” ’Cause my man can change this whole ? . The part that really ? me up was the “Straight up, now tell me” part.[All laugh]
NAS: I wanted to throw something out the window. ’Cause you know what it made me do? I said, “Do I [need to] make this kind of a record?” I questioned myself ’cause I’m like this is the guy, here. I play it again, and now I’m ? . I’m mad. It ruined my session. We sat there and just talked about Cole and his art.
J. COLE: On the flip side, when I added that Paula Abdul part, I was so excited. I been plotting on using that since I was 14. I had a song with my mans. We had a group together, and it was a flip on that. It was a victory for me—it was self-produced. I wrote the ? , I ain’t have no big feature. And I had a single that would finally work. But I can absolutely see the other side of it. The fans were like, “Oh my ? .” Now I can laugh about this ? .
NAS: At the end of the day, it’s a clever record. Don’t get it twisted. ’Cause like when Cole says, “You the guy that made ‘You Owe Me,’ and ? ” [on “Let Nas Down”]—which killed me. When I heard that, I was laughing my ass off—I was like touché. That’s my ? , for the record. But like I said in the [“Let Nas Down”] remix, on my fourth album I got a lot of different fans that I’m tryna holla at. So you’re trying ? like that. But on album one is when you make that spark that lasts forever. It was a good album, though. And now he’s done it again. So you good in my book.
J. COLE: They say you got your whole life to make your first album. For me, I had to give so much of my life stories, so much of my rhymes on the mixtapes The Come Up, The Warm Up and Friday Night Lights. My first album was like my fourth. I had a conversation with Jay after I played him “Let Nas Down,” and the ? was like, “I got to figure my ? out on Vol. 1.; I already had my classic Reasonable Doubt in the stash.” To me, “Work Out” was successful, and I’m happy for it. But it was still me learning how to balance. I gave you “Crooked Smile,” I gave you “Power Trip.” That’s how you maintain yourself. When Jay did “Sunshine,” that was a learning lesson. They play that right now, the ? would probably run out of the room. But he probably wouldn’t have been able to make “Hard Knock Life” had he not tried to make “Sunshine.”
NAS: Definitely.When you first heard J. Cole, did you understand the comparisons that people were making?
NAS: I didn’t look at it like that. I wanted to make my own opinion. I was like, let’s hear what he’s saying. He’s his own man, and I listened to it from that point of view. I wasn’t looking for me in him. I been inspired by tons of people; he’s been inspired by tons of people. When we do what we do, we sound like us. To me, Cole sounds like Cole. There can be some things I listen to and I wonder if I inspired that or if it’s something I would’ve thought of or would’ve tried to rhyme or whatever, but that’s him. That’s a great compliment that there’s someone who likes what I do—because this dude is nice, so you’re bigging me up.
J. COLE: ? , it’s like of course you’re gonna see hints because that ? in my DNA. I studied him so much, it’s always gonna spill out some way. But it’s a lotta ? in my DNA, just like there’s a lot in him. You see Kobe do a fade-away and you be like, “Okay, that’s Jordan.” There’s hints of everybody in these guys’ game, but what makes me my own man, what makes him his own man is that we develop. You gravitate towards what you like. I studied Eminem; he wasn’t studying Eminem. He was studying ? that Eminem was studying, so he already had his DNA settled. Of course you gon’ hear lines—I write like, “Damn my ? Nas would’ve been proud of this ? , with the rhyme schemes.”One commonality is that you’re both great hip-hop storytellers. What makes for a good story? Are there specific approaches you guys take?
NAS: Details. When I write a story, I just wanna tell you what’s in my head. It can come from real life and then turn into fantasy, stuff just rhyming. And write about what you know. I just like to tell stories that have not been told or [told] from my perspective. When I pick up albums I’m looking for stories. Tell me something that’s going on other than the fact that you the ? .
J. COLE: That’s real. It’s no coincidence that all the greatest rappers—whoever you put in your top five—I guarantee you they a great storyteller. B.I.G. could paint that picture, but his flow is like liquid. This ? [Nas] paint a picture, and his ? so detail-oriented. And then he’ll come and give you the conversational piece of it. Like, he’ll put himself in the shoes from the perspective of himself then go back to describing ? . With some people it’s too much detail. He balances the detail with action and a real beginning, middle and end—and emotion. To me, emotion makes the best stories. ’Pac is one of the illest lyricists, but that’s why his stories are so ? crazy ’cause he’s gonna give you the emotion.Is hip-hop lyricism experiencing a renaissance now? What’s the state of the genre?
J. COLE: It’s heading into another golden era. It might not be there just yet, but it’s getting there. Look at the options you got right now. I remember around the time Hip Hop Is Dead was coming out, I knew why you was saying it. Rap was a ? joke. It was a singles-driven market. But even when I was unsigned, I knew with what I was doing that this was gon’ turn around. I didn’t know at the same time that Kendrick was somewhere studying, going hard. Drake was somewhere studying, going hard. ? is getting back to caring about rapping again. And really taking this ? seriously, clowning ? that’s wack. There’s a real divided line of ? that can rap and ? that just can’t. And you can get your money and it’s all good. We still respect you and we gon’ play your song. But when you look at these guys, way different
Comments
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That's pretty dope
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Lmao j cole look mad corny
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Lol@ the cover
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jcole is just so wack, the expectations of hip hop community are so low these days.
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school struggle rappers
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cole going to be around for a while
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I'm gone be on a magazine cover with Nas, I gotta get a suit and a light skinned ? chain with no pendant
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I don't understand the hate for Cole.
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Nas look like ray j
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Good interview, but what the ? is a "school struggle rapper"?
...cover looks creepy, lol -
I can never get over how corny this ? Cole look, he has no style of his own... Bumpkin ass ? , asking his own bosses if he in the illuminati and ?
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Smh @ the Cole hate. Yall lame. Can't stop his shines through. Hoes
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Cole my ? but that ? do seem awkward.
Everybody know Jay is awkward but when he steps on that stage or out as Jay Z he turn into a different ? .
Cole is Jermaine 24/7 if that makes sense. -
Sunshine was a great song though.
