Jay Rock’s favorite rappers of all time: “We come from the same type of struggles”

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Jay Rock is likely one of the greatest rappers to return out of the West Coast over the previous 20 years alongside fellow TDE members Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q and Ab-Soul, who collectively type Black Hippy. The Los Angeles rapper, raised in Watts, hasn’t been afraid to call his influences over time and provides credit score to the most effective rappers.

The ‘King’s Useless’ rapper as soon as revealed that J Cole is one of his favourite rappers of all time, placing him inside his high 5. “I fucks with Cole heavy, man. You know, he was on my last album, Redemption, on ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’, so yeah, Cole is one of those ones, for sure. That’s my bro.

“Actually, I remember a long time ago, pulling up to the studio with [K.]Dot. Him and Dot when they was having their lil thing going on, I don’t know if it was talked about them doing an album, but I know they did a lot of records together and stuff. So that’s how I met him, through Dot.”

Rock collaborated with Cole on ‘OSOM’, which was a track included on his final album Redemption in 2018. “Shout out to J Cole. We come from the same type of struggles. He put the real in his music, I put the real in mine,” he informed Billboard. “We’re all connected. Everybody think alike. Big shout out to Jermaine Cole, man. He’s doing his thing. He got real powerful messages in his music.

He added, “Every time I hear him do something, he inspires me. I’m trying to inspire him when I do something. It’s just us black men coming together and uplifting each other.”

Talking on the that means behind their observe, he informed Genius, “‘Out of sight, out of mind’ is just like not worrying about the bullshit. You just got to keep focused on your goal. It’s like I say, ‘Time is everything.’ Sometimes I be like, ‘Man I got to get this done.’ Sometimes I feel like it’s going on a time limit. Time is precious. You got to make sure everything counts. That’s basically what that whole concept really is.”

Apart from Cole, Rock has additionally praised veteran rappers similar to Nas, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, and Lil Wayne, who usually seem on lists about the most effective rappers in historical past. Not solely that, however he additionally named a extra fashionable rapper in Atlanta’s JID, who’s signed to Cole, in addition to one in all his greatest pals.

“When I hear rappers from like Nas, Busta, Jay-Z, like I said, the Wayne’s, J Cole’s, you feel me, JID, a lot of these rappers, the lyricists out, even Soul, Ab-Soul’s last project, I told him he’s like the G.O.A.T. to me, you feel me?” he said throughout an interview.

“So just hearing these projects, it gives me motivation to go in and just go harder, not half-arse do shit. Just really have a real thought process about what I’m gon’ say and what I’m gon’ do and attack it.”