J. Cole Explains How Kanye West’s “Through The Wire” Changed His Life And Rap Career
Oftentimes, sharing the intimate stories behind an artist’s journey is a great way to provide meaningful context and heighten appreciation for the ride. J. Cole is ready to take his supporters down memory lane with his new audio series, Inevitable, which details an “unfiltered voyage through his life, career, and personal evolution, using both released and unreleased music to guide the story.”
On Monday (Nov. 18), the North Carolina rapper and his co-hosts Ibrahim Hamad and Scott Lazer dropped off the first episode titled “The Come Up” (named after his first mixtape), and shared a story about how Kanye West’s music changed the trajectory of his art.
Cole explains how early on his journey as a spitter, his raps would consist of storylines and made-up scenarios. “Like a movie,” said Ib, his longtime manager.
“But my life was actually hella regular,” Cole admitted. “I didn’t sell no drugs. It was nothing like my favorite rappers. It was nothing like JAY-Z and it was nothing like Pac’s life appeared to be. It wasn’t nothing gangsta about it. I had a hard time seeing myself as… the lifestyle portion, I didn’t get it. I didn’t know how to talk about my life in a way that people could connect with. And then f**king Kanye West happened.”
“In the summer in 2003 before I went to college, the ‘Through The Wire’ video dropped and that changed my life and I became a massive Kanye fan. Kanye was the first time I saw myself in somebody. It was like, ‘Oh, this n**ga just made it possible to talk about your life or your regular perspectives in a way that’s appealing.’ This n**ga became my favorite artist at that point. He kinda cracked my mind open,” he continued.
That specific portion of the conversation started making its rounds on X, and other Hip-Hop enthusiasts began chiming in with their early memories of becoming Ye fans.
“This is actually why I love Kanye too,” one user wrote. “I always say Kanye changed my life cuz he came at a time when n**gas was all tryna be something they wasn’t. He reminded us you can just be who u are and that’s totally fine.”
In addition to the priceless stories he’s expected to share with the rest of the episodes, the “No Role Modelz” artist is also unleashing his early mixtapes on streaming services for the first time. The Come Up appeared on DSPs at the same time the first episode was released, and fans are expecting The Warm Up to be available by Nov. 22 and Friday Night Lights on Nov. 27.
Stream episodes of J. Cole’s Inevitable audio series on inevitable.live and revisit The Come Up below.
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