J. Cole Encouraged Dr. Dre To Sign Kendrick Lamar

J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar have collaborated on multiple tracks together on numerous occasions. In this era of clout, J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar have ruled dominant for a decade on the strength of their skill alone. J. Cole just acknowledged his participation in Kendrick Lamar’s collaboration with Dre.

J. Cole revealed to Nardwuar on the seventh anniversary of his smash project, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, that he had a key influence in Dr. Dre’s signing of Compton hip-hop legend Kendrick Lamar. When questioned if the rumors about his involvement were genuine, he stated that they were.

“who told you that? Who gave you that piece of information?”

“…The answer is, yes. I did. I’m not gonna say I was the first to tell him…I was like, Yo, you gotta sign this kid from Compton.”

Advertising

Advertising

According to Complex, one of the producer’s team members was already aware of the up-and-coming “Collard Greens” artist’s work, and Dre finally signed him to his Aftermath brand in 2013.

“Shoutout to Dr. Dre. He made the right decision,” Cole informed Nardwuar, who then inquired whether the Fayetteville native had personal ambitions to sign the talent he had spotted. He then went on to further elaborate on the subject.

“100 percent, I don’t know what I would’ve signed him to. You know what I mean? We didn’t have our business intact, but that’s how much I rocked with him at that time. I met him and instantly was highly impressed. That would’ve been the first artist in my mind to sign, but come to find out, he had bigger shit going on.”

In other parts of the interview, Cole is presented with a collection of gifts from Nardwuar. The collection included a Dilla Turntable from J. Dilla’s estate, a Breaks & Beats Spaceman doll, and a handful of vinyl records (one of which was First Choice’s “Armed and Extremely Dangerous,” which the 36-year-old sampled on “Middle Child”).

Fans of both J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar are anticipating their collaboration with bated breath. Let’s see if the rap legends choose to collaborate in the future.