Despite critiquing some aspects of hip-hop's new wave of rappers on album KOD, J. Cole has been embraced by a handful of young artists in recent weeks. Lil Pump was seen dancing to Cole's music at Rolling Loud and later said the two are "on good terms." Now, Trippie Redd has praised the North Carolina rapper during a new interview with Montreality.
"I grew up listening to J. Cole," he says at the 5:11 mark. "I just knew when he first came out, [he's] one of the GOATs. He's hard, regardless of what you think. He is a rapper. He gives you nothing but bars and lyrical play, which is amazing. His lyrical play is distinct. He'll say some real shit and he'll play around with it and give you the real shit the whole time."
Trippie has made a name for himself with his melodic take on rap, but he's also shown an ability to make more traditional, bar-driven songs like "Can You Rap Like Me?"
The young Ohio rapper says he only listens to a few high-energy songs from younger rappers and the rest of the time he's playing artists like J. Cole and Kanye West.
"I really appreciate him and fuck with his music, because he's doing something for the culture that a lot of people aren't really doing with their [yells ad-libs]," Trippie explains. "\I want to hear bars sometimes. I don't just listen to y'all niggas. You know what I'm saying? I play three songs like that and the rest of the time I'm playing rap music. J. Cole. Kanye."
Momentarily reconsidering his decision to name Kanye after his recent controversies, Trippie added, "Damn, why did I say Kanye? Sonically, Kanye is the GOAT, even though he lost his damn mind. Sonically, he's the GOAT."
As for his own music, Trippie updated fans on his next project during an Instagram Live session over the weekend.
"There's two parts of the album. There is a more artsy, lyrical part of the album," Trippie said. "That's where like, 'Taking A Walk,' 'Oomps Revenge,' 'Can You Rap Like Me 2,' 'How You Feel,' all the rock songs, the R&B songs, the very artsy rap songs, and shit are going to be on that side.
"And on the other side of the album, it's going to be more bangers and shit," Trippie continued. "For example, like my song with Quavo [...] 'I Kill People' is probably going to be on the other side. I'm still not sure yet. I'm still trying to line everything up. I'll let you know as I go."
He also confirmed that Drake will not be on the project. "It's only because people say so much weird shit about me and Drake's relationship," he told a fan, "so I didn't really care about the feature at all."
