J. Cole has been sharing untold gems about his long career, and the latest story is a treat for lovers of the Blog Era. In episode 8 of his Inevitable audio series, cohosted by Scott Lazer and longtime manager Ibrahim Hamad, the North Carolina rapper revealed he initially wanted to sign Kendrick Lamar.
“The only person I felt I wanted to sign to Dreamville was Kendrick Lamar,” Cole recalled. “There was a time period I seen him and he sent me music and I was like, ‘Damn, this is somebody who I’d sign as a Dreamville artist.’” He added why the Compton rapper’s talent struck a chord with him, saying, “For the first time, I had found someone that loved this sh*t as much as I loved it… [He] took it as serious, had similar taste… It felt like your cousin coming over to the house.”
However, as Hip-Hop fans know, K. Dot already had a loyal home base at the time, Top Dawg Entertainment. “But he already had his situation, and that wasn’t happening,” the 4 Your Eyez Only spitter said. Check out the full audio series on inevitable.live.
NEW YORK, NY – JANUARY 28: Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole perform at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 2014 in New York City.
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Although 2024’s rap beef has rightfully affected many people’s perception of the Big 3 and how they view one another, Cole and Kendrick have shown mutual respect to each other over the years. In another episode of the series, Cole shares the behind the scenes about “HiiiPower,” a fan-favorite track of Dot’s that Cole made the beat for.
Another story about the two rappers surfaced a few years ago that also related to Kendrick being signed. In various interviews, Cole confirmed he encouraged Dr. Dre to sign the “Humble” rapper. In a 2021 conversation with Nardwuar, the host catches Cole off guard by asking if he was the one who put Dre onto Kendrick. “The answer is yes, I did. I’m not gonna say I was the first to tell him… When I brought him up to Dre, I was like, ‘Yo, you know what you gotta do,” he replied.
Elsewhere in the Inevitable series, Cole speaks about Kanye West’s music changing his life, collaboration albums planned with Meek Mill and Big Sean, his early days of rapping, and so much more. Check out the full audio series on inevitable.live and revisit the classic “HiiiPower” below.
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