Via J. Cole's Inevitable podcast (episode 2)
On his first time hearing Drake:
“It was one dude in particular that I remember seeing on MySpace, and he was this light-skinned R&B-looking n-gga, but he had raps. It was kind of neo-soul-type raps, like on some Little Brother shyt, but he was talking about women or something. The n-gga’s whole demeanor was hella smooth.
“But his plays were through the roof for a n-gga you’ve never heard of or has never been signed! I was like, ‘Who is this n-gga?! How does he have 20,000 plays in a day?!'
“Come to find out, a couple of years later, [Cole’s friend] Jessica Nabongo put me onto this song from this artist named Drake called ‘Sooner Than Later.’ I was like, ‘This shyt is fukking amazing.’ N-gga, I played that shyt back to back to back.
“Come to find out, the reason he had all of those plays was because he was already famous and I didn’t know that. He was already a n-gga that was popping off of Degrassi, but I didn’t know Degrassi and I didn’t know who he was.”
On So Far Gone and Drake's influence on The Warm Up:
“He fukking destroyed ['Say What's Real']. I was blown away at how much he bodied that fukking beat. I was like, ‘Yo, he’s fukking phenomenal.'
“For so long, I felt confident in the fact that I was the only one occupying that space, the only one with that perspective and that sharp of a pen. I was like, ‘That’s gonna be my thing, that’s what’s gonna separate me from the pack.'
“So the second I heard [‘Say What’s Real’], one, I was blown away because of how good it was. But two, subconsciously I was like, ‘Ha! There was someone else out there the whole time that was working maybe just as hard as I was working, was thinking the same things and who had the same opportunity to occupy a certain lane that I never saw any competition for.'
“I didn’t know how big Drake was, I didn’t know the Young Money shyt, I didn’t know none of that. So when So Far Gone dropped, that shyt literally became a wave in 24 hours.
“Literally the next week we were in Miami or some shyt for spring break, and not only were we playing that shyt the whole ride down, but when we got to Miami everybody was playing fukking Drake So Far Gone. And you could see right away, ‘Oh shyt! This is a fukking phenomenal shift.’
“I’m like, ‘Not only am I not the only one in this space, I’m now actually starting late! My deal with Jay-Z ain’t even done. I’m not even anybody yet. And this n-gga’s off to the races with hits, like cultural-shifting shyt.’ At that moment, I had to shift my mindset about what The Warm Up was about to be ’cause Drake just changed the game.
On his first time hearing Drake:
“It was one dude in particular that I remember seeing on MySpace, and he was this light-skinned R&B-looking n-gga, but he had raps. It was kind of neo-soul-type raps, like on some Little Brother shyt, but he was talking about women or something. The n-gga’s whole demeanor was hella smooth.
“But his plays were through the roof for a n-gga you’ve never heard of or has never been signed! I was like, ‘Who is this n-gga?! How does he have 20,000 plays in a day?!'
“Come to find out, a couple of years later, [Cole’s friend] Jessica Nabongo put me onto this song from this artist named Drake called ‘Sooner Than Later.’ I was like, ‘This shyt is fukking amazing.’ N-gga, I played that shyt back to back to back.
“Come to find out, the reason he had all of those plays was because he was already famous and I didn’t know that. He was already a n-gga that was popping off of Degrassi, but I didn’t know Degrassi and I didn’t know who he was.”
On So Far Gone and Drake's influence on The Warm Up:
“He fukking destroyed ['Say What's Real']. I was blown away at how much he bodied that fukking beat. I was like, ‘Yo, he’s fukking phenomenal.'
“For so long, I felt confident in the fact that I was the only one occupying that space, the only one with that perspective and that sharp of a pen. I was like, ‘That’s gonna be my thing, that’s what’s gonna separate me from the pack.'
“So the second I heard [‘Say What’s Real’], one, I was blown away because of how good it was. But two, subconsciously I was like, ‘Ha! There was someone else out there the whole time that was working maybe just as hard as I was working, was thinking the same things and who had the same opportunity to occupy a certain lane that I never saw any competition for.'
“I didn’t know how big Drake was, I didn’t know the Young Money shyt, I didn’t know none of that. So when So Far Gone dropped, that shyt literally became a wave in 24 hours.
“Literally the next week we were in Miami or some shyt for spring break, and not only were we playing that shyt the whole ride down, but when we got to Miami everybody was playing fukking Drake So Far Gone. And you could see right away, ‘Oh shyt! This is a fukking phenomenal shift.’
“I’m like, ‘Not only am I not the only one in this space, I’m now actually starting late! My deal with Jay-Z ain’t even done. I’m not even anybody yet. And this n-gga’s off to the races with hits, like cultural-shifting shyt.’ At that moment, I had to shift my mindset about what The Warm Up was about to be ’cause Drake just changed the game.
