Back when I was 16, I was friends with a rapper who was signed to a legendary music producer who has dozens of Grammys & sold hundreds of millions of albums. First day I met him, he came to my house to record on my mixtape, then we made some runs. He told me his life story, his cases, how he stabbed someone & had to pay them 200K, his first body. Just wild shyt. I was a complete fish out of water around him but I considered him a friend despite our differences.
He was the only rapper I've ever met outside of Beanie Sigel that I was legitimately afraid of. I've shared stories of Beans taking my chicken wings in the studio or breaking into the kitchen at the club I DJ'd at and making himself a cheese sandwich in the middle of a party........this guy I'm describing is scarier.
Anyways, he was rolling on E in the passenger seat of my car & tells me that when he met this music producer......he had no intentions of getting a record deal but rather he was plotting on robbing the producer until someone asked him to rap for him which led to him getting a deal.
I say this to say, this is what makes this J. Cole apology such a mindfukk for me. So many of the rappers I grew up on or were around in my DJ years were pure SAVAGES or had people around them that were DANGEROUS. Even if it didn't get violent, dudes were going to war with words. There was simply too much at stake to back down. Too much pride, too much ego, the will to prove to be the best was too much too great even if it was just for the sport of it, like catching a fish & throwing it back in the ocean.
It's strange that we've gotten here........but maybe it's just hip hop growing up, guys focusing on music, being healthy mentally, physically and spiritually without the pressure of needing to compete, fight and engage in drama for our entertainment.
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This dude Mal always over the top like that? 
He had some quoteables
