On paper. If I were to show the 14 year old version of me what I had accomplished, if I could go back in time and be like, Bro, look what you just did. The 14 year old version of me would be like. Like what? Like, I knew it, you know what I mean? But the actual, you know, at that time, 28 year old version of 29 year old version was not feeling like a was not feeling good. You know what I mean? It was not feeling it wasn't enough appreciation. It wasn't enough like a recognition of what I was actually doing. It was too much emphasis and focus on where I wasn't yet, and that hadn't been me up until that point. So that sparked it probably was like a couple years. Is that you you're saying like the, the focus on what you were doing, the emphasis from the outside is that you putting pressure on yourself. Is that you not being happy with not hearing certain things about the work you're doing? 100%. That was it. It was ego driven 100%. It was like there was a nugget somebody dropped from me. They didn't know what I was going through necessarily, but maybe they maybe they saw something. But it it sparked it sparked a practice that would lead me to exactly what you started a conversation with, which was like just a more, like, peaceful place in my life and more of a you know what I mean? And that was a at the time I had and at this time it's it's the team. My team ain't right, you know what I mean? At that time when it's ego driven, like and you're not getting the things you want. And at this time, for me, it was like, Oh, the Grammys, they ain't not f***ing me. Oh, the the such and such magazine or this one. Why I'm not in the why I'm not up here. You know what I mean? This is quietly what was happening in my mind. So I got with this new publicist, Kathryn Frazier, and she's amazing woman And, and and, you know, in the midst of us talking, we would have conversations outside of, like, just career and she would just telling me how she was into meditation. She was into like transcendental meditation and boom. And I had flirted with it like in my early 20s like practice it a little bit, just didn't really know what I was doing, but had a nice little experience. But I didn't dive into it. But mind you, her telling me about that was coinciding with me realizing, Yo, something's going on, bro. You got it. You got it. So, So I had set rules for myself. One was like, Bro, you can't go on social media no more like we're from the first generation of, like, entertainers, celebrities, whatever, where it's like, bro, you could literally at any minute see what somebody's saying about you, you know what I mean? And it's like there was nobody to tell you, like cigarettes when the whole world for decades was smoking cigarettes. There wasn't a there wasn't anybody loudly saying like, oh, that's that's going to kill you in about You probably shouldn't do that. It took a long time for somebody to to realize how harmful this was. And similarly, we're in we're in a generation where our entertainers, our basketball players, our boom boom boom, like no one was there. And even now, nobody's there to be like, don't Google yourself. Don't don't search your name on boom, boom, boom. So I say all that to say I had set some rules for myself, some baseline rules like, Yo, don't don't go on Twitter, don't read your replies, do not search your name. Boom, boom, boom. That's rule number one. Number two, when you're creating, you got to create from a pure place only like there was a rule I set for myself. Like everything has to only be truly what you feel in your heart. Of course, coming because you saw you saw yourself do the opposite. You saw yourself. You saw yourself dive deep into the space of social media. I'm searching. I see what they're saying. I'm getting angry. I'm getting irritated. Yeah. Yeah. How the f***? What the f***? Okay, now I'm creating and my creative from. Yes, bro. This is infused hundred percent and influencing my creative b****. I see what you said. Like it's now becoming a part-- The nastiest place to ever do some art, artful shit and some and some pure. It's just like, Yo, you can't. It's like you have to leave all room. I feel like in the creative process for like for God, you know what I mean? And the minute you start, like thinking about what somebody else is going to think about it, boom, boom, boom. I caught myself in that space for a moment and it was so unfamiliar to me because that's never how I used to work. And it was. And so to get up out of that, I had set these. Ground rules struggle, though. Was it was it an easy transition? It was easy. Was it a battle? No, it was it was. I mean, I'm not going to say it was like because you realize those things are addictions, right? Those things become addictions like like social media becomes an addiction. So, yeah, in a sense, it's like you have to you have to check yourself and tell yourself like, don't do that. You know what I mean? Like, or catch yourself. Now get off of there. But every time you every time I feel like. Every time you say no, like while battling like an addiction, it's like you get stronger. You add a pebble to your, like, to your strength. You know what I mean? So, like, I like that. You know what I mean? It's like, yo, the A no is a powerful thing and you get stronger and the other thing gets just a little more weaker. So, so but, so while I set these ground rules for myself, she mentioned the meditation and she had explained to me like how her experience with it and like how life change it was and how clear she felt. And so I was like, you know what? I was out in LA. Like I had came out here to work on the album. I had the album titled 2014 Forest Hills Drive. I had it all mapped out. I knew what the album's going to be called. I knew was going to buy the house back. It all felt like it was like supposed to happen. And and I started adding that by the time five months hit, I would have these revelations and clarity about my life, and I would see what was actually happening in my life and where I was headed. You know what I mean?
From the U.K. and pissed I’ll never see the full interview. But I have been experiencing the detrimental effects of social media (particularly IG). I don’t count reddit, I don’t think I’ve had too many bad experiences here
social media is bullshit, simple.
This was really helpful,I too wish to quit my social media addiction hope this J Cole interview helps me,as I always look upto him as a role model.
I know for sure Cole was talking about this and it is HELLA funny http://bigghostnahmean.blogspot.com/2011/09/big-ghost-review-for-cole-world.html?m=1🤣🤣