Grammy-nominated Rapper/record producer/singer/songwriter Jermaine Lamarr Cole, a.k.a. J Cole, is perhaps most well-known as a member of Jay Z's Roc Nation and for hits like “Crooked Smile” and “Love Yourz.” The 2-time platinum record artist also knows a thing or two about life, love, and relationships. J Cole was a gifted student who loved music and basketball and studied computer science in college before switching to communication. He attracted Jay Z’s attention with his second mix tape, The Warm Up, in 2009, and his creativity has never abated since. The innovative artist/producer is married and has a daughter.
You can’t reverse fame. You can lose all the money, but you’ll never lose people knowing you.
I put a lot of pressure on myself. I think something’s not good enough, and I won’t stop until I feel like I’ve made it. I’m never satisfied.
I’mma be here for a while. None of these clowns can hurt me.
I always feel like it’s two key ingredients when it comes to following your dreams, making something happen that the average person deems difficult. If you truly believe it, that’s step one. Step two, is, you know, the hard work that goes along with it.
Anything’s possible, you gotta dream like you never seen obstacles.
The music becomes more pure and soulful when it’s true, and it has to be true these days with the way the internet works, and the way the game works, everyone wants authentic raps.
You keep falling victim ‘cause you’re insecure, and when I tell you you’re beautiful you can’t be sure.
I don’t live for the accolades. I’m more so about the music. Making it, and putting it out. Those are the two best feelings.
I’ve got two Rolexes that I’m very proud of – a gold Presidential that was a gift and a white gold one I gifted myself. I’m trying to step my game up and get a few more of those.
Take a chance, because you never know how perfect something can turn out.
My fans love me for me, my beats, my rhymes.
In this life ain’t no happy endings;
Only pure beginnings followed by years of sinning and fake repentance.
Only pure beginnings followed by years of sinning and fake repentance.
Anything I do, I do it well.
I feel like I’m a New Yorker because I really know the city. I actually tell the drivers where to go – I have this bad habit, I always question the drivers. I do that all the time because I feel like I know the best way, when really it’s like, ‘Yo, man, shut up. This dude does this every day of his life.
If they don’t know your dreams, they can’t shoot them down.
There’s a story behind every person, a reason why they are the way they are. So, think about that before you judge someone.
No need to fix what God already put his paint brush on.
They say time is money but really, it’s not. If we ever go broke, time is all we got.
Promise to my momma I’ma make it to the Top..
So I’ma keep climbing til my heartbeat drop
So I’ma keep climbing til my heartbeat drop
Keep grinding boy, your life can change in one year, and even when it’s dark out, the sun is shining somewhere.
I’ve always been an underdog. I feel like I beat the odds.
No such thing as life that’s better than yours.
College isn’t in everyone’s hearts. I am living proof, though, that school doesn’t mess up your plans. It gives you more experiences to write about.
I swear I walk with God, but the devil keeps following.
My real dream is to have a whole, like, buy a whole piece of land. Imagine, like, a long driveway. Like, a cul de sac-type street, with maybe, like, seven houses. Me be right here. Have my mom be able to be right here. My brother over here. My girl’s grandmother and family right here. Friends over there. That’s my real dream.
We got dreams and we got the right to chase ’em.
I have a little bit of that gamer spirit in me. I just don’t have the time to be a gamer. But in another life, I would be one.
I had a lot of resistance, and not just to fame. I was always conscious of not changing.
I want people to follow their dreams, yes… but I’m not interested in telling young black kids how to be rappers… I want to show them that there’s so many other paths you can take, besides a rapper or basketball player.
I seen a baby cry seconds later he laughs… the beauty of life, the pain never lasts.
I keep my head high, I got my wings to carry me. I don’t know freedom, I want my dreams to rescue me.
In a game full of liars it turns out that I’m the truth. Some say that rap’s alive. It turns out that I’m the proof.
I just feel like, with rappers, there’s so much complacency. It’s like, ‘Oh, I’m a rapper. I’m successful. I make money. That’s all that matters.’ But there’s a lot of stuff going on in the world. Whether or not you’re aware of it, it’s happening.
I was just a goofy little funny kid, who was always getting sent to the principal. It wasn’t serious because I was smart. I wasn’t like a true troublemaker, just rambunctious – like, talkative and trying to be funny. That was me in middle-school.
As we grow up, we realize it becomes less important to have a ton of friends & more important to have real ones.
One thing you should know about me is I never play to lose, Always aim high and rarely obey the rules.
I’m half-black, half-white, so I basically put it like this: I can fit in anywhere. That’s why I write so many stories from so many different perspectives, because I’ve seen so many.
Sometimes our dreams come true, sometimes our fears do too.
For a few minutes you made me feel as if I actually meant something to someone.
You have to hurt in order to know. Fall in order to grow. Lose in order to gain. Because most of life’s lessons are learned in pain.
If you place your importance on appreciation and love, that’s enough.
Get to know somebody and you really learn a lot about ‘em. Won’t be long before you start to doubt ‘em. Tell yourself you better off without ‘em. Then in time you will find can’t walk without ‘em.
You are perfect exactly as you are. With all your flaws and problems, there’s no need to change anything. All you need to change is the thought that you aren’t good enough.
Damn, cold world. I never thought I’d see the day that you’re my old girl.
I’m here to spread a message of hope. Follow your heart. Don’t follow what you’ve been told you’re supposed to do.
I think if I did something in the pop world right now, it would be for Rihanna. I’d love to do something production wise for her.
People congratulate me. I just tell them God is good.
To appreciate the sun, you gotta know what rain is.
I pay attention to lyrics and I know what rap fans care about. I try to write for the average listener and I’m conscious of the mainstream without selling out.
Believe in God like the sun up in the sky, see science can tell us how but it can’t tell us why. I seen a baby cry then seconds later she laughed, the beauty of life the pain never lasts.
My parents were divorced by the time I was even conscious – like, I don’t remember them ever being together.
Producing all my own songs and refusing to go to the hot producer. That’s the biggest risk I’ve taken so far.
So here we are… it’s funny how so close can seem so far.
The thing about being an artist today is you get to develop right in front of people’s eyes before you even put out an album.
Either you play the game or let the game play you and be that broke sucka talkin bout I stayed true.
Don’t let them taint your soul.
If I was to go to sleep before midnight, I would feel weird about myself, like I wasted a day. My most productive hours are between midnight and five.
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
My life accelerated, but had to wait my turn. But then I redecorated, that means my tables turn.
It’s beauty in the struggle, ugliness in the success.
I walk along this long harbor of life and sit on the piers, reflect on my pain and sh*t on my fears.
The same ones you love will bring you pain.
A little jealousy in a relationship is healthy. It’s always nice to know someone is afraid to lose you.
I feel like this: Whatever is in your path and in your heart, you need to do.
As much as it might look like, to someone else, that I’m successful, I never feel like I’m anywhere. The further I go, I still feel equally further from my eventual goal. Because as I grow, I get more goals. I’m never content.
I’m the same kid who used to hop the trains with headphones and just go to downtown Manhattan, walk around and listen to music or walk through the city. The fame restricts that. It’s a small complaint in comparison to the benefits I get from it, but the restrictive part is what I don’t like – and the fact that it’s not reversible.
Life is a movie, pick your own role, Climb your own ladder or you dig your own hole.
Never give up until you’ve given out all your very best. It’s better to fail trying, than wondering what could have happened if you tried.
I put a lot of God in my music, but not because I’m super religious. There are a lot of demons in my music too. I acknowledge both.
I’d rather be happy being myself than sad trying to please everyone else.
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