J. Cole became very candid about his childhood during a recent interview on ESPN. Although he spoke about other areas of his life including his career during the discussion, he revealed that he began smoking cigarettes at an extremely young age.
The rapper said,
“At 6 years old, I was smoking cigarettes regularly around the neighborhood. I was always hanging around the older kids in the neighborhood that [my older brother] was hanging around and they were smoking. And I was young and fearless and trying to be cool. So, it was like, ‘Oh, y’all smoking. Let me see that.’”
He went on to admit that his mother let him run the streets; however, at the time, she didn’t fully know exactly what he was doing.
The No Role Modelz rapper admitted that he would look for ways to fit in as he would hang with his older brother’s friends.
“To them, it’s funny. They’re 10 themselves. So, it’s funny for them. Nobody’s really worried about me. They’re 10 and smoking cigarettes. This is going on for two-three weeks. One day, I’m down the street at a house where it was happening at and my brother comes up and I asked one of our homeboys in the neighborhood, “Yo, You got any cigarettes?,’”
said J. Cole.
He revealed that he smoked cigarettes until his older brother informed their mother. He was later addressed by his mother regarding his acts. He said,
“This was literally a life-changing moment. When she smelled cigarettes on my breath, her face was like, it was heartbroken, it was disbelief, it was like crushed. I remember the look on her face. She was like, ‘You have been smoking.’”
“The reason why I think that was a life-changing moment where after that I didn’t need much correction—I became a self-corrector—is because that was the first time I became aware that, ‘Oh, my actions can hurt someone else,’”
he added.
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
