Aside from blessing fans with KOD, dropping everyone's favorite freestyle, and being executive producer on Swizz Beatz's newest album, J. Cole is quite content with keeping all of his non-music related news as far away from the public as possible.
The North Carolina native resides in his home-state with his wife, Melissa, and toddler son. Despite not wanting to sit down for an interview, Cole took Billboard up on their offer, per the request of his manager, Ibrahim.
“Even though I clearly am one, I don’t live my life like a celebrity,” he said. In a perfect world, Cole would've already switched the "unfamous" button on, but in reality, he'll prefer to remain "purposefully relevant." The Grammy-nominated emcee states that his Dreamville artists' success, sort of, depends on his accessibility and relevancy.
Although, he didn't feel compelled enough to vote in the 2016 Presidential election, the outcome is the mirror America has been trying to avoid for years. "With Trump in office, I love that America gets to see the truth. If Hillary Clinton was in office, it would be the most f---ing disingenuous sh-t," said the "Sideline Story" emcee.
He continued, "Everybody would be thinking that everything’s cool because we got an incredibly qualified female president, which would’ve been amazing on so many levels. But all the sh-t we see right now would’ve still existed; I prefer this sh-t to be out loud. I prefer an honest America."
Outside of him ignoring the narratives the media creates around him, he also shared his sentiments surrounding Kelis' domestic violence claims against his noted icon, Nas. "Yeah, that hurt. I ain’t going to lie... It feels weird because I f--k with Nas," said Cole.
However, domestic violence isn't something he can side with. "I came up seeing too much f--ked-up sh-t for that to be acceptable. I don’t care who it is. I don’t f--k with people abusing women, and I don’t f--k with people not taking care of their kids."
Check out Cole's full cover story.
(Photo: Brian Feinzimer/WireImage)
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