J. Cole Quotes

Rappers tend to use words sometimes that just rhyme and don't really mean nothing.

Lil Wayne, that was one of my main influences, music-wise, because of his wordplay and metaphors.

The beats are like scripts, and the raps are my monologue.

The thing about hip-hop today is it's smart, it's insightful. The way they can communicate a complex message in a very short space is remarkable.

Hip-hop is not all '2 Chainz' - although '2 Chainz' is awesome. How he does that with metaphors, I don't know.

I like anything by 50 Cent and Snoop Dog. I love the way they mouth their way around words.

Pac get busy. People can't take nothing from him. On the lyrics, he get busy, straight up.

Slick Rick has always been one of those guys real good at telling stories.

As far as rapping goes, as long as you are telling the truth and you have a good flow, then you win.

What inspires me about rap is that it's written in an almost poetic way. I just think it's so cool.

I don't want people to confuse me as an MC that talk about nothing.

I listen to a lot of Biggie, he's so lyrical.

I still to this day get the most inspiration from rap lyrics.

In hip-hop, I wasn't very focused on delivering a message. It was just a string of lines that didn't connect. What I wanted to do is write stories... and affect someone's emotions with that song. I think as a soul singer, I'm able to accomplish that.

Biggie and Big Pun were the best storytellers of the '90s. I would get wrapped up in the narrative of what they were talking about.

I still very much appreciate the storytelling of the best rappers.

One of my favourite things about country music is that, at least until recently, you could always count on a solid story, a punchline and a pun. I think it has that in common with hip hop, where they're not afraid of wordplay and I really appreciate that.

Rap is rhythm and poetry. Hip-hop is storytelling and poetry as well.

Big Rube was on my first album and some of my mixtapes. His words are so powerful. I want to speak every word he says into existence. I wanna be a part of that! I wanna be a part of greatness. His wordplay is great to me.

Drake, I'd like to collaborate with. He's a phenomenal lyricist. Probably the best rapper in the world at the moment. I love Kanye but there's something about Drake; he's more straight up, really clever and really poetic and metaphorical - I love that. He's just clever.

I've been trying to nail it into everyone's heads that I feel like I am the most versatile rapper.

Rap is a gimmick, but I'm for the hip-hop, the culture.

I was never just a 'fill in 16 bars on a beat' rapper. I was making real songs from the jump.

This is just rap. I'm not trying to make people think I'm some sort of scientific wizard or inspirational poet.

The words of the songs speak for themselves.