Cole once tried cigarettes in his childhood
J. Cole has had a fair share of challenges growing up, including exposure to smoking habits. Recently speaking to Bob Myers on ESPN, the North Carolina native remembered smoking cigarettes while hanging out with his older brother and his friends. He was just six and his brother and his buddies were 10.
“At six years old, I was smoking cigarettes regularly around the neighborhood,” Cole said after he was asked about the dumbest thing he’s ever done. “I was always hanging around the older kids in the neighborhood that [my older brother] was hanging around, and they were smoking, and I was young and fearless and trying to be cool. So, it was like, ‘Oh, y’all smoking. Like, let me see that.’ And, of course, we’re all out there kinda [with] young parents, with long leashes.”
He continued that one day his brother had to report him to their mum after noticing his growing smoking habit. “I saw her face. When she smelled cigarettes on my breath, her face was heartbroken. It was disbelief. It was like, crushed. I remember the look on her face and she was like, ‘You have been smoking.’ It like hit her,” he recounted.