Our second J Cole interview/ with commentary (SXSW 2010)

Our second interview with Jermaine took place in Austin TX for SXSW 2010. I had contacted his label rep a few weeks before to set it up but because of the craziness surrounding SXSW, his label rep said he couldn’t guarantee anything. For those not familiar, SXSW is a 4 day music festival where thousands of artists from all genres gather and perform as many times as they can.

For someone like J Cole who was one of the most buzzing artists of the festival that can mean performing at 3-4 showcases a day, speaking at panels, making rounds with media from across the world, showing face at the hot parties and trying to squeeze some time to eat and sleep.

I sent his manager Mike a text and he said he would try to knock something out after his performance at the Nah Right showcase. The homie Mark and I got to the showcase early to set up our cameras but this is not the type of venue that has a press pit so we did our best to shoot from the crowd while bumping into all the Cole fans (luckily it went pretty smooth and I didn’t have to bust out my pointy elbows on fools). After the show Cole stuck around, signed EVERY Autograph and took EVERY picture with his fans. Mike came over and said he was doing the best he could to get Cole out of there so we could get our interview but one thing I have learned about Jermaine is that he goes out of his way for his fans. At this point I was wondering if we were going to get the interview because of time restrictions but you can’t be mad at an artists from taking time for fans.

We walked across the street with Cole to a near by bar and both Cole and Mike said not to worry that we were going to get it in regardless because they still remembered and were appreciative of our first interview.

While setting up the lights and cameras for our interview I could tell by looking at Cole that he was exhausted. Not only was he losing his voice (you can tell when you watch the interview) but you could also tell that he probably hadn’t had a good nights rest in weeks. Yet he took time out for us and for that we are appreciative!
-NHB

Here it is our second interview with J Cole:

J. Cole on his new single Who Dat, being chosen on XXLs Freshmen 10 cover and the void in Hip Hop. Episode also includes performance of Beautiful Bliss.

Part 2. J Cole talks about when his debut album is going to be released, if he foresees making any more mixtapes before his album droops and the difference between touring on his own vs with Jay Z and with Wale.

Ps: After the interview I told him that “Show Me Something” helped me get through some stuff and he mentioned that he almost regretted leaking that and “Losing My Balance” because he would have like them both to be on his debut album.