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The Bentley costs $700 a day, and Coles in Los Angeles for eight weeks.
Im just like ahhh, fuck it, Cole says, shaking his head.
These are the fuck-its.
And this is the fuck-it period.
I get in, and he asks where I want to go.
You ever been to the forest?
Once youre up there, you’re able to see the whole city.
He sets his GPS and we start driving.
Nobody ever asks nobody shit, thats the fucking problem, he says.
Its almost like were asking everybody Hey, you good?
You good, you sure you good, man?
Okay, cool.Everybodys fucking good.
Well nah, actually everybody isnt good.
This is the theme of Coles new record,K.O.D.
Its a far cry from where the 33-year-old was a little more than two years ago.
But there was one giant thing missing Cole himself.
I wasnt in the life space to promote that album, he says.
called him the week4YEOdropped and asked how he felt.
No, no, I.D.
said, about the album.
Oh, yeah.Cole said.
I did put out an album.
What the fuck was I doing?
A few years ago, Cole was living in L.A.
He shifts his head back and stares up at a cliff that must be a hundred feet high.
Shit, I wonder if I can climb this mountain?
Cole is in a T-shirt, black cross-training pants, the legs hitched up below the ankles.
He pulls an Interscope Records hoodie over his head.
Its fucking freezing out here.
Across the road, he starts climbing, firmly but cautiously.
Periodically, he turns back, looking at me, looking at how far up he is.
The business of J. Cole could die right here with one misplaced step.
He makes it down, unscathed.
My wife would kill me if she saw that, he says, brushing the dirt from his pants.
She always jokes with me, like, this is my white side.
Climbing mountains and nature.
This is some white-people shit.
I got 50 percent of that shit in me.
Walking back to the car, the dirt crunches beneath his feet.
Look, empty shell cases, he says, pointing at the ground.
He pauses and stares down into the brown canyon.
The sun falls behind the mountain.
This is beautiful, he says.
It reminds him of the Swiss Alps.
On theForest Hills Drivetour, his crew ate mushrooms and went up in the mountains, tripping balls.
You could see crazy landscapes, crazy mountains, and just how beautiful it was, he says.
And how impossible it was that this shit was created.
It looked like folds; bunches in Gods clothes.
Seeing that shit at one time hit me like, damn, the audacity of humans.
It made me feel like humans were trying to be God.
Because everything were doing is humans trying to prove were greater than God.
If Cole comes off as earnest, its because he is.
Once upon a time, maybe he cared.
But he also knows this with his new record,K.O.D., hes got the No.
Now its even clearer, he says of his critics.
Youre a fucking idiot.
In the real world, too, it made a splash.
Cole couldnt find a copy anywhere.
This is the first time I couldnt cop like 40 physical copies of my own shit.
Whatever this thing is.
Its really a shoe fits situation several people can wear that shoe, Cole says cryptically.
Why you yelling at your show?
Thats cool with me.
Thats all I ever want to do.
For Cole, the target is more general.
He takes aim at what he sees as the cartoon version of hip-hop.
And yet, Cole is paying more attention to the newer generation than he has in years.
I wasnt there before everybody was trash.
That shit was heavy.
On the surface, an album about pain and addiction from J. Cole is a little odd.
Isnt he as his harshest critics might suggest just another college-educated kid pretending to be deep?
Coles connection to addiction is personal.
She eventually got clean and sober, but Coles still wary of discussing her in interviews.
The wounds are deep, and he fears her past may negatively affect her now.
But that doesnt mean he wont address it in song.
Why dont I say how I feel?
Yes, Kay tells me.
But Jermaine was given a gift.
Certainly hes talented, intelligent, hes a hard worker and perseveres.
He was also given this gift of compassion.
Humans have been self-medicating since the beginning of time, but lets talk why.
There are several other addictions at play onK.O.D.
), social media (Photograph), sex (Kevins Heart).
(I was never an alcoholic, he is quick to clarify.
Id be doing a disservice to real alcoholics.).
But what he was probably most addicted to was public approval.
But Cole had grown up listening to Tupac, Nas, Eminem, and Jay-Z.
He wanted to be seen as one of hip-hops greats.
When Nas confided in producer No I.D.
Ten, fifteen minutes a day, clearing his head.
I didnt like how I felt about my life, he says.
Id been depressed for like three years.
And I realized I was putting too much importance on what other people thought about me.
I just put my head down.
I wasnt having an honest conversation with myself.
And when it topped the Billboard charts its first week of release, Cole felt relief.
He always wanted to be respected as an artist and looked at a high level.
He doesnt have to do these things anymore.
He can just be who he wants.
What Cole wants now is to be a husband, father, and rapper.
Familys grounded him, put some of his lingering personal issues to bed.
Dave Chappelle gave me some baby advice, he continues.
The seed forK.O.D.was planted one night in Detroit last year, at a Kendrick Lamar concert.
Cole had performed a night earlier and hung out an extra day to support his longtime friend on theDAMN.
It was a recognition likeOh, Ill take that again.
Like looking at a menu,Ill have that again.
Cole left the show and continued touring.
He had a short break at the end of the summer and planned to vacation in Italy and Tanzania.
But right before he left, he was hit with a burst of unexpected creative energy.
Four songs in three days.
He hadnt been that productive in months.
Still, vacation was calling.
I rent a private jet, he says.
My wife doesnt know where were at until we land in Rome and she sees the Italian flag.
It just feels good, bro.
But he had trouble sleeping that first night, his mind bubbling with ideas.
There was a spare room in the hotel suite.
He walked in, sat down, and made a quick beat on his laptop.
Hed packed a cheap radio microphone just in case.
He plugged it in, pressed record, whispering so he wouldnt wake his wife and kid.
Two nights later, he couldnt sleep again.
He went inside and banged out another song.
In just a couple of days, he had six new songs.
These joints are conceptual, he says.
I see where Im going, I see the message, I see the shape.
The inspiration for another song came unexpectedly, while he was lying in bed with his wife.
Oh no, Kevin, oh my god, Kevin, she groaned, while scrolling through her phone.
What did you do, Kevin?
It was comedian Kevin Hart.
He had cheated on his pregnant wife, Eniko Parrish, and was apologizing on Instagram.
It wasnt done from a hateful or spiteful place.
It doesnt apologize for Hart, but encourages men to make better choices.
Harts been caught cheating, so the last thing he wants is to pose for the photo.
Can you look a little more frustrated by the selfie, Cole says.
Like, really fight it.
That was just a flex, Cole says.
Like,Here, let me show you what I can do.
Hes flipping through music on his phone.
Then another Jay-Z cut, A Million and One Questions.
Havent heard this one in a while, he says.
He skips Isaac Hayes Walk on By, and turns the volume up loud for Raphael Saadiqs Still Ray.
Suddenly, the car screeches to a halt.
Cole puts his hand to the window my bad and shuts the music off.
Someones in the crosswalk.
Across the road, headlights flash.
You know he running the license plate right now, Cole says, spying the cops in his rearview.
Seconds later theyve pulled up along the passenger side.
Cole rolls down the window.
I didnt see him.
The cop pauses a moment.
Its all right, he replies.
Just be more careful.
The window rolls up.
That was a close call, Cole sighs, cause, boy, that license is expired.
Expired on my birthday about a month ago.
In the ICM company box at the Staples Center, Dreamvilles extended roster is on hand.
Cole and Hamad have courtside seats, but they spend most of the game in the box.
Its not that Cole doesnt want the seats.
Its that sitting down there, near the other celebrities, doesnt excite him.
Hes pulled back far enough to be comfortable, but increasingly, hes leaning back in.
Its appealing to be in a room full of famous people it saysIm important enough to be here.
Now, if Im going in, Im going in as me.
