J. Cole has built a reputation as one of the most candid superstar rappers in the world. This was in full view as the reclusive star sat down with comedian Kevin Hart on a recent episode of Hart’s show ‘Hart to Heart.’
As the two discussed Cole’s career, the ‘No Role Modelz’ hitmaker spoke on how he overcame a dark period in his career during his early days.
“There was a nugget somebody dropped for me,” he said. “They didn’t know what I was going through necessarily, but maybe they saw something. It sparked a practice that (led me) to a more peaceful place in my life.”
At the time, Cole says he attributed his dissatisfaction with where his career was going and to his team not being the right fit for him.
“At that time when it’s ego driven and you’re not getting the things you want, and this time for me it was the Grammys ain’t f***** with me and then ‘why am I not up here?’ This is what was quietly happening in my mind.”
When Cole started working with a new publicist named Catherine Frasier, she inspired him to get into “transcendental meditation”.
“Her telling me about that was coinciding with me realising that something was going on.”
During that period he set a rule for himself that he wouldn’t go onto social media anymore. “We’re from the first generation of entertainers, celebrities where you could literally at any minute see what somebody is saying about you.
“It’s like cigarettes. When the whole world for decades was smoking cigarettes there wasn’t anybody loudly saying that’s gonna kill you and you probably shouldn’t do that. Similarly, we’re in a generation where, for our entertainers, no one’s there to be like, ‘Don’t Google yourself’.”
As a result, he set himself some rules, which included, “don’t go on Twitter, don’t read your replies, do not search your name”.
He also set a rule that when he’s creating music, he needs to create from a pure place only and everything has to be what he truly feels in his heart.
“You have to leave all room in the creative process for God the minute you start thinking about what somebody else is gonna think about it. I caught myself in that space for a moment and it was so unfamiliar to me because that’s never how I used to work.
“You realise those things are addictions, right? Social media becomes an addiction. You have to check yourself and tell yourself, ‘Don’t do that’.”