J. Cole Talks Jay-Z & Kanye West As Competition, Relationship With Rihanna, & Internet Hate

In a Q&A with VIBE J.Cole discusses a few things from Jay-Z & Kanye West being his competition, the hate he obtains from the streets of the internet & his relationship with Rihanna whom he toured with recently.

On the hate from the Internet

Nah, nah. I take things for what they are. If someone is saying something and they sound dumb as shit, then they’re opinion is not valid. But if you sound like you’re making some sense… a lot of times it’s people assuming, acting like they know what’s going on. So you have to understand that these people’s opinions are misguided. There’s so many critics, but they don’t actually participate in the creation or consumption of music. It’s easy to look from the outside. It’s natural, I talk about other artists too… who’s better, who’s fucking up… but you really don’t know. I just happen to have a foot on both sides. But when I can tell it’s coming from a genuine place of concern it’s both flattering and annoying.

Jay-Z & Kanye West as Competitors

It definitely feels different. Now it feels more competitive, before I felt like it was so out of reach. But now it’s like ‘They want to drop this shit a month and half before my shit comes out? Damn. Let me take my shit up. Let me add to mine.’ So the competitiveness kicks in now because I’m in the game. I may be very low, but my sights are high. So it’s very different. Even when Kanye’s album dropped last year I was still on some fan shit. But now I finally feel like I’m in the game.

 on Rihanna

I can see that that’s true, because she’s cool as shit. One of the biggest pop stars in the world and she never once made me or anyone else around feel like that. You would’ve thought she was an unsigned artist or something, she’s mad cool.