J Cole took a moment from vibing with festival-goers in Raleigh to show love to one of his favorite artists.
During his headlining set at Dreamville Festival on Sunday, Cole opened up about the backstory behind his hit single “Work Out” and credited Kanye as a major influence.
“I know n—-s feel a way about him right now, but I got love for [Ye] and I really appreciate him. He cleared all these f—ing samples for me,” he said.
He recalled getting a different perspective on the track one specific day he was listening to it.
“I ran back to the other room,” he said. “It’s like it spoke to me.”
“Work Out” gave Cole his first top 40 hit as the multiplatinum smash reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Rhythmic Airplay chart.
In a social media rant earlier this month, Ye revealed that he “hates” the Dreamville founder.
“I hate J Cole music so much,” the “Stronger” rapper said matter of factly. “It’s like between Kendrick and J Cole I bet you industry plants asked J Cole to diss Drake then we would have been accosted with a J Cole Super Bowl commercial with no SZA song to save it.”
West — who has faced renewed criticism over his continued hate speech— claimed Cole’s music was strictly for virgins, and Drake giving him a platform was “hurting hip-hop.”
When I met up with Drake during Donda most of the convo was me telling him he was hurting hip hop by giving J Cole a platform and I was saying how much I loved Future,” he said.
