The J. Cole x Lil Pump Interview Has Arrived

6 years ago view-show 1,783,386

It’s real, and it’s here.

The interview of J. Cole and Lil Pump seemed as mythical as a unicorn, the loch ness monster, and Dr. Dre’s Detox all rolled into one. On the surface, they’re perfect strangers. Cole is a lyrical mind shepherding this dying vain of hip-hop forward with his pensive rhymes; Pump is the face of the new generation–one that is covered in tattoos, and portrays an image of “not giving a fuck”. Two perfect strangers representing two extremes of one very dense coin. Today, this fabled interview exited fairytale land, and assertively docked on reality’s tenuous soil.

The start of the interview is reminiscent of being a child committing a known forbidden act: we know that we shouldn’t be doing it, but temptation’s allure is too strong to deny. This interview shouldn’t be happening, and yet, somehow, it is.

We have this man whose face is covered by a scraggly beard and disheveled lox, and then we have this kid whose face is covered in objectively odd tattoos and a look of sobriety perpetually flirting with intoxication. Pump had taken shots at J. Cole previously; Cole wrote a standout track, “1985”, that was allegedly using Pump as a scapegoat to expose an entire generation of rappers. These two shouldn’t be interviewing one another. They shouldn’t. And yet, they did. In doing so, a hip-hop peace treaty–so-to-speak–has been signed. At the end of the day, when you wash away the subliminal disses, slander, and “clout” chasing, what is left is mutual respect; we’re left with differing hip-hop energies collaborating to supplement its existence and enticement. And at the end of the day, isn’t that the ultimate goal? To continue this beautiful genre’s intense proliferation?

While the Donald Trump and Kim Jon-Un meeting has been put on hold, I think we’ll settle for this equally interesting, catalytic meeting.

Watch the almost one-hour Cole x Pump interview below: