J. Cole Quotes

It's not necessarily a church theme and it's not really about church. I like my album themes to be metaphors because it gives me the freedom to speak about something else that's going on in my life, so the Born Sinner thing is not about church, it's not even about religion. It's using that as canvas to get other messages across and that's what the album will be.

Promise to my momma I'ma make it to the Top..
So I'ma keep climbing til my heartbeat drop

I was a class clown. At 12, I was definitely clowning. I was making all the jokes. But I was smart, so the teachers didn't know what to do with me.

I just feel like, with rappers, there's so much complacency. It's like, 'Oh, I'm a rapper. I'm successful. I make money. That's all that matters.' But there's a lot of stuff going on in the world. Whether or not you're aware of it, it's happening.

I want to be like Bruce Springsteen or something, making songs that are relevant.

Anything I do, I want to do it well.

I seen a baby cry seconds later he laughs ... the beauty of life, the pain never lasts.

This is my canvas, imma paint it how I want to baby

They say time is money but really it's not
If we ever go broke, then time is all we got
And we can't make that back, no you can't make that back

Don't let bridges you cross be bridges you burn.

I'm here to spread a message of hope. Follow your heart. Don't follow what you've been told you're supposed to do.

I'm not a conscious rapper, all those things we talk about, the struggle, the pain, the outlook to the future, keep your head up. I try to put all those positive things into a regular human character, which is myself.

I don't like to think of it as being fired. Instead, I prefer to think of it as being on indefinite leave with a sabbatical flair.

There was the time I bought three cars in the span of three or four weeks. It was crazy; it wasn't greedy. It was mine, my girl's, my mom's. I got Benzes for my ladies. But I felt crazy. You have to understand I come from a world where we're very modest. But that's not greedy. That's nice, right?

Sold my soul to Satan. I've been dancing with the devil. So when you get to hell you can say you know me. I'm easily attracted by the dark side. Devil keep following. For that fortune, some sold their soul to Satan. Was on track for the first two years, then i let the Devil steer. Now i got to mask my tears, but allow me to re-introduce myself, my name is Cole: Born sinner, opposite of a winner. But the Devil run the T.V. so the demons in him, I'm in trouble did a deal with the Devil but now I'm pleading with him like give me my soul. I ain't ever letting go but the devil don't play fair.

How big can you be if just the underground niggas know you? You can't buy your mom a house when you just an underground celebrity.

No need to fix what God already put his paint brush on

I'm the same kid who used to hop the trains with headphones and just go to downtown Manhattan, walk around and listen to music or walk through the city. The fame restricts that. It's a small complaint in comparison to the benefits I get from it, but the restrictive part is what I don't like - and the fact that it's not reversible.

I now possess the tools as a producer and a songwriter to really just go out and make smashes all day long. I could make an album full of smash records that got pop appeal. But my heart is in hip-hop. My heart is in telling stories. And it's like therapy for me.

You can't reverse fame. You can lose all the money, but you'll never lose people knowing you.

I always feel like it's two key ingredients when it comes to following your dreams, making something happen that the average person deems difficult. If you truly believe it, that's step one. Step two, is, you know, the hard work that goes along with it.

I feel like I'm a New Yorker because I really know the city. I actually tell the drivers where to go - I have this bad habit, I always question the drivers. I do that all the time because I feel like I know the best way, when really it's like, 'Yo, man, shut up. This dude does this every day of his life.'

History repeats itself and that's just how it goes,

I want people to follow their dreams, yes ... but I'm not interested in telling young black kids how to be rappers ... I want to show them that there's so many other paths you can take, besides a rapper or basketball player.

I put a lot of pressure on myself. I think something's not good enough, and I won't stop until I feel like I've made it. I'm never satisfied.

People think because I've got some success, I've made it, but in my eyes it's like, 'How long has Jay Z been in the business? How many albums has he got?' Not that I'm trying to be Jay Z, but I am trying to be around for a long time.

Even my momma asked what I'mma do. Decisions, decisions/ In case this is war, then I load up on all ammunition/ If a n
a want problems, my trigger's on auto.

The thing about being an artist today is you get to develop right in front of people's eyes before you even put out an album.

I kinda like the idea of having an album that's all me.

If you ain't aim too high, then you aim too low!

I have a little bit of that gamer spirit in me. I just don't have the time to be a gamer. But in another life, I would be one.

I met Will Smith twice. I didn't talk to him for too long but I was trying to let him know that my age group grew up watching him - he was the coolest guy on television and the coolest guy in movies.

Get on yo job little man this ain't Saturday

I worked in ad sales. I would call up local businesses and try to get them to buy ads in the paper. The whole time, I felt like I was just scamming people.

I had a lot of resistance, and not just to fame. I was always conscious of not changing.

Tupac was just so passionate about what he believes in and not afraid to say anything.

The same ones you love will bring you pain.

My goal is to have that be a haven for families.

While silly ni**as argue over who gon' snatch the crown / Look around my ni**a, white people have snatched the sound / This year I'll probably go to the awards dappered down / Watch Iggy win a Grammy as I try to crack a smile.

I'm half-black, half-white, so I basically put it like this: I can fit in anywhere. That's why I write so many stories from so many different perspectives, because I've seen so many.

It's no coincidence that all the greatest rappers - whoever you put in your top five - I guarantee you they are great storytellers.

I pay attention to lyrics and I know what rap fans care about. I try to write for the average listener and I'm conscious of the mainstream without selling out.

Cause you a star - no, not the type that snort the white lines
I mean the type to light the night time

Keep grindin' boy, your life can change in one year, And even when it's dark out, the sun is shining somewhere

I was just a goofy little funny kid, who was always getting sent to the principal. It wasn't serious because I was smart. I wasn't like a true troublemaker, just rambunctious - like, talkative and trying to be funny. That was me in middle-school.

Far from the richest rapper, but my biggest personal achievement thus far in my life has been retiring my mom early from her job at the Post Office. It's a tiny payback for the sacrifices she made that allowed me to chase a far-fetched dream of becoming a successful artist. I'm forever grateful,

Life is a movie, pick your own role, Climb your own ladder or you dig your own hole.

Barack Obama would not be President if he were dark skin. You know what I mean? That's just the truth. I might not be as successful as I am now if I was dark skin.

Yeah school girl, cool girl. Your dress is sexy and your momma is a cougar.

If I was to go to sleep before midnight, I would feel weird about myself, like I wasted a day. My most productive hours are between midnight and five.

I'm not gonna be bad at anything, and I want to actually be the best at anything I'm doing. So if I'm playing basketball, if I'm taking the SATs, like, there's a competitive spirit behind it. With production, it's the same thing.

I was a super-duper Tupac fan, and I realized later, when I became a huge Nas fan and a huge Eminem fan, I was drawn to the storytellers. They all told stories in different ways, but they were all like the best storytellers.

To appreciate the sun you gotta know what rain is.

There's been people who've rapped and produced - like Kanye - but I don't feel like on the rapping side there's ever been a producer who can rap as good as I think I can rap.

In this life ain't no happy endings;
Only pure beginnings followed by years of sinning and fake repentance.

I do put a lot of God in my music, but not because I'm super religious. There are a lot of demons in my music, too. I acknowledge both.

You hate it before you played it. I already forgave ya.

One day, I'll be listening to a bunch of Ray Charles, the next day it's nothing but Red Hot Chili Peppers. The next day it might be Tupac all day.

I yearn for that livin' large, but mama I ain't done yet/Sit back and watch your son rise, kick back and know your son set

I actually started off majoring in computer science, but I knew right away I wasn't going to stay with it. It was because I had this one professor who was the loneliest, saddest man I've ever known. He was a programmer, and I knew that I didn't want to do whatever he did.

My fans love me for me, my beats, my rhymes.

Rhyme patterns are nothing without meanings to the words. A lot of rappers can do those flows, but the raps aren't really about anything - which is cool sometimes, but to have the flow and the message is one of my favorite things.

I don't live for the accolades. I'm more so about the music. Making it, and putting it out. Those are the two best feelings.

No rapper in the world from Jay-Z to Tupac to Biggie has 100 percent love on everything they do.