J. Cole talks "Cole World: The Sideline Story" with XXL

By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

J. Cole has been one of the hottest topics this summer. After many false starts, J. Cole said his debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, would be released on September 27, 2011. Now, with his album coming in a couple of days, J. Cole has been making his rounds.

Last week, his album leaked to the internet. A few days later, J. Cole was floored when he learned the actual copies of his album had been released. During a performance, a fan handed J. Cole their copy of his album. J. Cole is loving the experience of being a superstar and he recently discussed it with XXL.

The Fayetteville rapper is going to be on the cover of the October issue of the magazine.

Read an excerpt of J. Cole's interview with XXL below:

XXL: What do you want people to get from your debut album?
J. Cole: I want them to see the growth. You’ll see that you get flashes of the mixtapes—The Warm Up, Friday Night Lights. But then you also got spots where you’re like, “Oh, my God. What the fuck is this?” I didn’t plan on being a mixtape artist my entire life. Of course, I want them to soak up the stories and the songs, but if there’s one thing I want them to get from it, it’s that, “Yo, this nigga’s not fuckin’ around. He’s not settling for that status.”

How are you able to express that same mentality that you had on the earlier mixtapes, that same hunger that was there, now that you’ve had success?
As much as it might look like, to someone else, that I’m successful, I never feel like I’m anywhere. The further I go, I still feel equally further from my eventual goal. Because as I grow, I get more goals. I’m never content.

It seems like a lot of young artists these days—and maybe it’s because mixtapes are like albums—their debut albums are more about having made it than trying to make it.
I had to fight not making my first album sound like that. Because I’m in two different places. I’m hanging around these types of people sometimes, and I’m seeing these types of things, and I had to make it a point to not talk about that too much. It’s weird. I want to stay true to these topics on the first album and tell that story, without telling too much of, “I’m making money now.” I could have made that album. Exaggerated all that shit.

How much money I’m getting and all the places I go. But it’s the first album. I still feel like this is an important story to tell for my career.

You talk about “the ’Ville,” Fayetteville, a lot in your music. How big a city is your hometown?
[About] 250,000 people. There’s no skyscrapers or anything close to that, but it’s not a small town. It’s not, like, one school, no stoplights.

And it’s a military base?
Yeah, there’s a military base attached right on the outside of the city.

What’s the racial makeup?
I think it’s pretty even. Because of the military, there’s a wide variety of people. Growing up, it seemed split down the middle.

Your mom is White and your dad is Black. How did you deal with—how are you still dealing with—your racial identity?
You know what it is? My mother was White, but to me, I never looked at her like that. I would only become aware of that when we were in public or when she would pick me up from school. I would be like, Oh, man, everybody gonna see my mom is White. I know I’m about to get clowned. You would get clowned on in fourth or fifth grade. I used to get Michael Jackson jokes: “You don’t know if you Black or White.” That was the only time I’d be aware. Not that my mother was acting Black, ’cause she wasn’t, but she’s just my mom.

I can identify with White people, because I know my mother, her side of the family, who I love. I’ve had White friends. I know people from high school that I might not have hung out with outside of high school, but I think I got to know them pretty well, so I know they sense of humor. But at the end of the day, I never felt White. I don’t know what that feels like. I can identify. But never have I felt like I’m one of them. Not that I wanted to, or tried to, but it just was what it was. I identify more with what I look like, because that’s how I got treated. Not necessarily in a negative way. But when you get pulled over by the police, I can’t pull out my half-White card. Or if I just meet you on the street, you’re not gonna be like, This guy seems half-White.