Watts, CA rapper Jay Rock, a product of the Nickerson Gardens projects which is home to one of the largest Blood sets in Los Angeles, has become one of the top new West Coast faces on today’s rap scene. With the help of superstars Lil Wayne and Will.I.Am, Jay Rock’s “All My Life” single received a good amount of radio play not just in Los Angeles but in cities around the nation. The huge co-sign from the superstars opened up the doors but it was up to Jay’s own skills to ensure that he stood out on his own as an artist and not get lost to the features on his own song. With a style that some say is similar to Compton superstar The Game, Jay Rock uses a rough gritty flow in raps that details life growing up in the ever-dangerous city of Watts. Signed to Warner Brothers, Jay Rock is preparing his debut album and is out to make his presence known as one of rap’s new faces. The young artist recently sat down with AllHipHop to talk about his budding career, his radio hit “All My Life” and his surprising alliance with rival gang-member and fellow upcoming West Coast artist Nipsey Hussle.

AllHipHop.com: You grew up in the notorious Watts Nickerson Gardens projects. Tell us how you went from gang-banging to rapping.

Jay Rock: I started rapping at about 13 or 14 years old with the homies around the hood but I didn’t really get serious about it until about 4 to 5 years ago. That’s when I really started to get more serious and began doing mixtapes. People started telling me that I was hard. I was just a young dude out there trying to hold his own by gangbanging and slangin’ a little bit – trying to bring some food to the table for the family. I was running around the mean streets being raised by the big homies. I used to listen to the homies O.F.T.B. who were from the neighborhood and were signed to Death Row. I also listened to N.W.A., Snoop Dogg and of course 2Pac was my favorite. By 16 I started to develop my own style and tried to say some sh*t that really meant something. I started to put all of the stuff that was going on in my neighborhood in to my raps and that’s when I started to get serious.

AllHipHop.com: How did you go from someone doing underground mixtapes to being signed to Warner Brothers?

Jay Rock: I had done a few mixtapes that got in to the hands of one of my big homies named Dude Dawg. He grew up in the projects and made it out but I didn’t know that he was involved in the music business. He started looking for me and I thought he was coming to discipline me for some stuff I did in the neighborhood, because he used to always come back and try to holler at the young homies in the hood. I started ducking and dodging this n***a, but he was trying to come at me on some other stuff. One day I was sitting on my porch getting a haircut and he pulled up on me in his truck and I was like, “Aw sh*t!” Then he was like, “I heard you on some mixtapes and I want to put you in the studio.” That sh*t threw me off! I finished up my haircut and hopped in the truck with him. He locked me in the studio and told me he wasn’t going to let me out until I come out with 3 good songs. I go in there and I’m thinking about my money in the streets so I hurry and put some bullsh*t together. He listened to it and told me to get my a** back in the studio. He had me locked up for 3 days and I worked. He took the 3 songs that he really liked and took them to the labels. A few the labels put their bids in and he chose to go with Warner Brothers.

AllHipHop.com: Its good have someone like that to push you and drive you.

Jay Rock: Real talk. The big homies that know better should always come back and grab the younger homies and try to help them out. He told me that’s why he came and got me and for me to do the same thing one day for some of the other n****s to pull them out of the bullsh*t.

“I don’t give a f**k what anybody says about [Lil’] Wayne. People call him fake

or whatever, but he’s a real n***a to me. A lot of people that I’ve

spoken to in this industry have told me one thing and done another, so

I respect Wayne for what he did.“

AllHipHop.com: I see that’s already started with you. Last Thanksgiving I saw you on Fox 11 News giving out Turkeys to residents of the Nickerson Gardens projects.

Jay Rock: Growing up, there were times that we didn’t have food on the table. Sometimes Thanksgiving was a struggle for us. Growing up in those projects, I know who’s doing ok and who needs help. That prompted me to go back to my hood and take some Turkeys for me to give out and to look out for those that don’t much. I haven’t made it big yet but I’m doing somewhat better than I was. I need to start making a difference now. I wanted to try to bring some hope. I’d like to do things on a bigger scale. This Thanksgiving coming up, I’m planning on doing something even bigger.

AllHipHop.com: Are you going to do this in your neighborhood only or spread it out to more areas in the city?

Jay Rock: This was my first time doing that and it was cool. I want to do it on a bigger scale in my neighborhood first and then I want to branch out to different projects and help out people from projects all over the world. If I were to go to a project in Atlanta, I’d want to team with some of their local artists and do it together. I don’t want to do it for my own shine. I want to do this out of love. I want to hand this off to other artists and show them what I’ve done in my hood so they can do the same in their hoods.

AllHipHop.com: You hooked up with Lil Wayne and Will.I.Am for your single “All My Life.” How did you make that happen?

Jay Rock: I met Lil Wayne when he did a show out here in L.A. Me and my people were backstage and I was there trying to make my presence felt so people can know who I am. I introduced myself to him as “the next n***a from my city to blow up” and I told him that I wanted to work with him. He gave me his math and he was a real n***a. He gave me the real hook-up on him and told me that if I needed something to hit him up. Cool & Dre gave me a record and I got down on it and I figured that this was the record that I wanted Wayne to get on. I hit him up and told him that I needed him on the record and he told me to send it to him. I wanted to do it in a real way so I offered to meet him wherever he was and bring it to him myself. He was in Washington D.C. at the time so I bought some tickets and met him at his tour bus. He was asleep on the bus and I showed up banging on the door. I told him that I had the song and he told me that he couldn’t do it then because he had to go to South Carolina. So me and my boys jumped in our rental car and drove with the tour bus to South Carolina. From there we went to Pharrell’s studio in Virginia and the rest is history. We were in the studio for like 12 hours and the dude was like a machine. We knocked out 15 verses that night and he blessed me with a hell of a verse for the “All My Life” song.

I don’t give a f**k what anybody says about Wayne. People call him fake or whatever, but he’s a real n***a to me. A lot of people that I’ve spoken to in this industry have told me one thing and done another, so I respect Wayne for what he did. I don’t care what anybody says. He’s a real n***a to me.

“It’s time for the Black on Black [crime] to get cut off. Me and Nipsey are going to be the two to get that [money] because nobody is expecting us to get together like that. We’ve

got a new President that’s Black and it doesn’t make any sense for

Crips and Bloods to continue fighting and killing each other.“

AllHipHop.com: The original version of “All My Life” had your homie K-Dot doing the hook but then you released another version with Will.I.Am from The Black Eyed Peas. What was the reason for that?

Jay Rock: My camp and I loved the version with K-Dot but when we took the song to the radio, they didn’t like the hook. They told us that the hook needed to be better. So we had to go back and re-do the hook. I ran in to Will.I.Am while we were both working at The Record Plant studio and I got at him there. He’s from the projects too – not the same one as mine but he’s a project boy also. I asked him to bless the song with a hook and he agreed. He added that “ghetto, ghetto” on there and we took it back to the radio and they thought it was a cool hook. So we ran with that version.

AllHipHop.com: Honestly, which version do you like better?

Jay Rock: I love the version that K-Dot did, that was my sh*t. To me that hook said more. Those are the politics of the game. I really needed that air-play. Some people were disappointed in me for changing the song and felt that I was selling out for the radio but they don’t understand the politics of it all. You really do need that radio exposure. If it was up to me and I had the choice, I would have ran with the K-Dot version.

AllHipHop.com: When I hear that, I really have to question the ears of the radio people that turned down the original version. It’s a much superior song. That’s no knock on Will.I.am though.

Jay Rock: That’s real talk. I don’t want to diss anybody in radio but it is difficult trying to please them. You make a song that you really love and you take it to them and they are like, “No. This isn’t it.” That song will never get the chance to really be out there because they feel that it’s not “it.”

AllHipHop.com: What is the status on the album? Has Warner Brothers given you a real release schedule?

Jay Rock: We were trying to get it out this summer but right now we are looking at having a September release. I’ve got to get that next record out there and get it moving. I’m not trying to rush it and have it do like 18,000 upon its release. I am trying to sell as many as I can when it comes out. I know there are people waiting and I appreciate their patience but I want to come out on top. When you are in a rush, sometimes you don’t do sh*t right.

Jay Rock – “DOA Freestyle”

AllHipHop.com: You announced via Twitter last week that you are teaming up with fellow rising West Coast artist Nipsey Hussle for a few projects. Can you tell us about that?

Jay Rock: Nipsey is my dude. We’ve got a lot of sh*t in the works. We want to shock the world and put the town on our backs – to push it the way Snoop & Dre did it back in the day. We are two young n***ga’s trying to make it.

AllHipHop.com: You’re a Watts Blood and he’s a South Central Crip. How does that all mix together?

Jay Rock: Red and Blue makes Green. We are on some other sh*t now. It’s time for the Black on Black bullsh*t to get cut off. We’ve got two big homies over us telling us both that it’s time for a change and for us to all stick together as one, instead of fighting. Instead of Red and Blue splattering Red blood all over the city, it’s time for us to make Green together. Me and Nipsey are going to be the two to get that going because nobody is expecting us to get together like that. We’ve got a new President that’s Black and it doesn’t make any sense for Crips and Bloods to continue fighting and killing each other. I’m young but I have seen how bad that sh*t is for us. I’ve got a baby now and I don’t want to walk out the door and have some n***a knock me off with my daughter in my arms. That sh*t is played out.

AllHipHop.com: Do you believe that you two can have a positive impact and have others follow your lead?

Jay Rock: I think it’s started already. We did the Green Lantern show on Sirius and everybody expected us to be on some bull-crap. People were shocked when they found out how tight we were. Some of my people may have had doubts about him and vice-versa but we showed them something different. I think we can make a big dent as long as were are out there grinding and showing that it can all be good.

AllHipHop.com: We’ve also heard that you are teaming up with DJ Drama for a new project. Is that correct?

Jay Rock: It’s coming! I’m 15 songs deep on it right now. I’ve got to at least do another 10 so he can pick the ones that he wants to use.

AllHipHop.com: I know that you are good friends with The Game. Do you two have anything coming out together?

Jay Rock: The Game is the homie. We do have some records in the works. He took me and Nipsey on tour. This is the second time that he’s taken me on tour with him. Game has helped open up the door for me and others, so I have nothing but appreciation for him. People compare us and say that we sound alike.

AllHipHop.com: I’ve seen people say that you sound like Game. Does that offend you?

Jay Rock: That doesn’t offend me. I don’t think I sound like Game – but at the same time he’s sold millions of records. If someone is going to buy my records because of that, then keep preaching it. I don’t think that we sound like though. Game is Game and I’m Jay Rock.

Jay Rock, Lil Wayne and Will.I.am – “All My Life”

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“Get your buzz up” has become the prevailing mantra for the unsigned hip hop community in the past five to 10 years. The quality of an artist’s music has played second string to their ability to acquire a following independently. This new breed of artists with “movements” has converted record labels from havens for the development of new talent into investment firms searching for the next small business to acquire and fund.

Enter the “buzzless” J. Cole, the first Hip-Hop artist in recent years to be signed based primarily on his music. Seemingly coming ‘out of nowhere,’ the Fayetteville, North Carolina native and current Jamaica, New York resident has found himself in one of the most lucrative label situations in the hip hop world. He is Jay-Z’s first and only signing to his forward-thinking attempt at resurrecting a decrepit hip hop industry, known as Roc Nation. On the verge of releasing his first major mixtape, The Warm Up, J. Cole, who’s name has begun to light up the blogs over the course of the past month, sat down with AllHipHop to discuss his unique situation and what the hip hop world can expect from a soulful lyricist/producer who puts the music over the movement.

AllHipHop.com: So now you are the first artist signed to Roc Nation; very prestigious. How did you end up meeting Jay-Z and getting the deal?

J. Cole: Well, as the story goes, somebody ended up playing the song I had [called] “Lights Please” for Jay. And from what I’m told, he heard it, and as soon as he heard it he was just like ‘yo, who is this kid, like what the f###, I wanna set up the meeting.’ When it was told to me I didn’t believe it, like I always say and a few weeks later I got the call out of nowhere. Just as I was starting to lose faith that is was real, I got the call that he wanted to meet. So I just flew out to the city, met with him for like three of four hours and the rest is history. Couple months later we’re doing a deal.

AllHipHop.com: Did you ask Jay any of those fan “if I ever meet Jay I’m definitely going to ask him…” questions?

J. Cole: Aww man, I still haven’t, I ask him questions but I haven’t asked him some of those questions like “Yo one day I’m gonna ask him…” I don’t feel that comfortable yet. But I did tell him this funny story about how I stood outside the studio all night just waiting for him to come and I had beat CD for American Gangster, I was trying to get (a beat) on American Gangster and I tried to give it to him and he just played the s### out of me. He was just like ‘yo, I don’t want that s###.’ I told him the story, it’s a hilarious story.

AllHipHop.com: So Roc Nation is not your run of the mill record label. How does your deal differ from an artist that signs with an Atlantic or a Def Jam?

J. Cole: I don’t know how their deals work over there now, so it might be similar but my deal is almost like all levels, obviously. Its not just record sales anymore it’s touring, it’s merchandising, actually I don’t think they get merchandising, but it’s a lot more well rounded. But this works to my advantage because I’m not just left out there to dry if my album doesn’t do well. Which I’m not expecting, but lets just say it did, I wouldn’t be left out to dry, they would still be booking me shows cause they have an interest in that, they’re taking a piece.

AllHipHop.com: Ok so you have this mixtape The Warm Up about to be released. What can people look forward to on that? What’s the sound like?

J. Cole: I guess just an overview of my sound meaning you can expect a lot of storytelling, witty lyricism, introspective lyrics, you know, I get deep. I got some fun s### on there. But one thing you can expect is, what’s the word, like a concise sound. Its me doing most of the production so its not one of those mixtapes where it’s like every song is different. It’s not like that. There’s a sound, it almost feels like and album, it flows. So you can expect that. (There is) a lot of production from me. (There are) only two other producers on it, two songs. (not produced by me)

AllHipHop.com: So you are from Fayetteville NC which is a big Army recruitment town. What was it like for you growing up?

J. Cole: Well, the whole reason I was there is because I was an army brat. My mother and my father were in the army when I was young, so that’s how we ended up there. Its diverse, there’s a whole bunch of different types of people. You got, White, Black, Asian, Latino. So you meet a lot of different types of people, (I have had) a lot of different types of experiences. I done seen it all from the worst side of town to new kids from the best side of town.

AllHipHop.com: I can imagine it must have been a big change moving to NYC. What kind of adjustments did you have to make?

J. Cole: First of all, I had to get my sense of direction around here, it’s such a big city. [I had to] figure out how things work as far as trains and s###. I had to adjust to attitudes. It’s faster paced so people have much shorter tempers and just different interactions with people. So I had to get used to all of that, get adjusted to being in school and not being around any family and having that to fall back on.

AllHipHop.com: Now you graduated from St Johns in 2007 and from what I understand you were an excellent student. Since you were obviously not relying on your talents as a rapper to be your meal ticket, what was your major? What were you planning to do if the rap thing didn’t work out?

J. Cole: I started out a Computer Science major as a freshman but I switched quick as hell cause it was boring, to me. Then I switched to Communications a couple years later. It seemed like a generic major but I couldn’t picture myself doing anything else. But the honest truth is I never ever even visualized any other career, I never even decided on the type of job I would look for. I knew, at least I hoped, I just knew it would be rap.

AllHipHop.com: Shifting gears, your first mixtape The Come Up hosted by DJ On Point came out in 2007. How did you connect with On Point and how did this tape help you get the attention of your new manager Mark Pitts?

J. Cole: I got On Point for the mixtape through my man Aristotle. We were working together for a while, back in 07. So he set up the On Point thing. As far as the mixtape goes, it didn’t get me to Mark Pitts. (laughs) I don’t even know if Mark Pitts honestly has heard The Come Up, it was so under the radar like that. I got to Mark Pitts through other avenues. Actually someone that works for him happened to hear my s### and got it to him. So The Come Up was really under the radar, people are just now going back to listen to it.

AllHipHop.com: You recently went on a small tour with Wale. Was that your first time on tour? What was that experience like?

J. Cole: Yeah, that was my first time on tour. I really didn’t even go to every city with him, I was doing east coast cities. It was fun man, it was literally just me and my team hoping in the whip and driving down the east coast to the shows. It was fun. It gets no more fun than that at these beginning stages. We’re paying for s### (like) food out our pockets, hotels and s###. It’s just really the grind. It was the best man because people don’t know you when you get on stage and they don’t know whether they want to cheer for you or be like ‘get the f### off the stage.’ By the end of the show hopefully I grabbed their attention enough for them to be like ‘yo that dude was sick, what was his name again?’

AllHipHop.com: These days it seems like artists need to saturate the market independently before they are able to get a deal which can be a problem because when they do get their deal and its time to release a project, their is no anticipation because they have released so much material. You on the other hand got you deal before the buzz really even began which is reminiscent of a 90s marketing format. Do you feel like that gives you an advantage?

J. Cole: I hope so. I hope that gives me an advantage. I think so and I hope so but that was all planned. Three years ago when I was really like ‘I’m getting a deal, f### it.’ Everybody was saying that you have to go out and get your buzz first before you get a deal. You have to put out mixtape after mixtape, you have to do this, you have to get radio, you have to get your myspace friends up. I think right now I probably got 2,000 myspace friends. There are independent artists with way more friends than me. I have no buzz, or had no buzz up until right now. So I never believed in that theory. I was always the one that was like ‘I don’t HAVE to do that I don’t have to f##### follow that way of thinking’ And I didn’t I got a deal based off my music with zero buzz. And it does help me out because I’m sneaking up on the game rather than already having my name out there. Now people are more curious like ‘who the f### is this that just got signed.’ It’s just like what you said, the way it used to be.

AllHipHop.com: Hopefully they’ll start doing that again.

J. Cole: Yeah, I hope so.

AllHiphop.com: Another artist whose buzz is defining right now is Drake. I have heard people compare you to Drake several times in the past few weeks. I don’t really hear the similarities, have you been getting a lot of that?

J. Cole: I’ve been getting enough of it to hear about it but I wouldn’t say I’ve been getting a lot of it. But I’ve definitely heard it.

AllHipHop.com: When I listen to your music, I hear subtle elements of 2pac, Nas and Kanye West. Who are your biggest influences?

J. Cole: Damn, everybody you just named definitely. 2pac is just my favorite rapper, period. Kanye, he’s one of my favorite rap ARTISTS, period. Not even just rapper/producer, just one of my favorite rap artists ever. Nas, I’m a huge fan, huge studier. Eminem as well was big for me. Even Royce Da 5’9” in that same 98/99/2000 period, Royce was huge for me, Canibus…and Jay of course, a sprinkle of Jay. These are artists that all had huge influence on me. Kanye definitely though with the beats, and Dilla and Preemo (laughs) as I fade out with all of the greats.

“Simba”

AllHipHop.com: I have heard a great deal of your music but the record I have seen generating a buzz online is “Grown Simba” what’s the reaction you have been getting from that song?

J. Cole: It’s been great. From what I’ve seen from it, it’s a good response. People are really feeling the beat. I’m proud of that. And I just see people saying ‘oh he goes hard.’ But I look at it like, those songs that I put out, other than “Dead Presidents 2,” I feel like the other songs that I put out, they’re dope, I like them and I stand for them but they don’t even really truly reflect me. You’re gonna see the ENTIRE me on the mixtape. That’s why I’m really adamant about people listening to the whole mixtape and not judging based on “Grown Simba” or “Dead Presidents 2,” hearing everything. But “Grown Simba” yeah, I love that song.

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AllHipHop.com: Have you begun working on the album? What producers have you been getting in with? Any secret Jay-Z colabs we should (or shouldn’t) know about?

J. Cole: (laughs) As far as my album, yeah I’ve been working for the past two years on my album, so I been working on that but once this “Warm Up” s### kinda cools off, little play on words, (laughs) I’ll be able to really get in. Two weeks from now I’ll be able to really sit down, analyze what I’ve got, what needs to go, what needs to come in. As far as secret Jay-Z collaborations man, I mean all I can say is, (laughs) if there were to be any secret Jay-Z collaborations, I wouldn’t be able to speak on them. BUT, you know, I would ASSUME that by this point I might have been in the studio with him. If I was an outsider looking in I might assume that, but I’m not saying anything in particular you know… (laughs)

AllHipHop.com: What can the people look forward to from J. Cole in the coming year?

J. Cole: This bangin ass mixtape that I need you to dive in (to) and explore, in an out, which is called The Warm Up. I’m on Wale’s mixtape as well, “Back to the Feature.” I’m on Wale’s album which comes out I think end of the summer. I might, I got some top-secret s### lined up, top-secret features lined up. And then look for a big college tour from me. Not big in terms of size but big for me in terms of my idea for it. So look out for that next semester, what’s that fall 09 for all you college kids. And you know, just look for me around, I’m working hard. I haven’t gotten a deal and gotten comfortable, I feel like I haven’t made it yet. So I still got a lot of work to do.