Cole recalls drawing inspiration from Ye.
J. Cole has pointed out Kanye West as one who has changed his life and molded most of his music. In his new audiobook series Inevitable, the Dreamville rapper explained how Kanye influenced him at the beginning stages of his craft development.
“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 said.
“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 fucking Kanye West happened.”
Cole credited Ye with helping him drop the façade and embrace his true personality in his music.
“In the summer of 2003 before I went to college, the ‘Through the Wire’ video dropped — and that shit changed my life,” he continued. “I became a massive Kanye fan. Kanye was the first time that I saw myself in somebody. He just made it possible to talk about your life or your regular-ass perspective in a way that’s appealing.
“This n-gga became my favorite artist at that point. He kinda cracked my mind open.”