J. Cole speaks on racism in music and America

As a result of the Trayvon Martin case and it’s verdict has made racism and profiling, as well as colorism as a main topic of discussion...

As a result of the Trayvon Martin case and it’s verdict has made racism and profiling, as well as colorism as a main topic of discussion this year, and now J. Cole is weighing in.

In a recent interview with BET, and on the heels of celebrating his second #1 album, Jermaine gets deep as he talks about the color issues in Hip Hop. He also reveals that he was recently profiled by police while driving through Times Square, and admits that he may not have been as successful if he were a dark skin man. That’s just the sad reality of America.

Peep the highlights:

BET.com: You’ve talked about including dark-skinned women in your music videos versus all light-skinned women. The light-skinned, dark-skinned issue certainly affects women in hip hop; does it affect men in hip hop?
I can’t say it for sure but I just think we’re still in America. We’re still Black Americans. Those mental chains are still in us. That brainwashing that tells us that light skin is better, it’s subconsciously in us, whether we know it or not… still pursuing light skin women. There are some women out there that are like, “I don’t even like light skin men” and that’s fine. But Barack Obama would not be President if he were dark skin. You know what I mean? That’s just the truth. I might not be as successful as I am now if I was dark skin. I’m not saying that for sure, I’m still as talented as I am and Obama is still as smart as he is, but it’s just a sad truth… I don’t even know if this is going to translate well into text and people not hearing what I’m saying, but it’s a sad reality. So I can only naturally assume it’s probably easier for a light skin male rapper than it might be for a dark skin male rapper. It’s all subconscious s***, nobody’s aware — I think that s*** still subconsciously affects us.

On if he has ever experience racism
For sure, absolutely, I just got pulled over on 42nd street in Times Square for what I believe was nothing. They said it was for tints on my front window, which is barely tinted. I really believe it was because I had my hat low. I was driving through Times Square and I just didn’t want to be seen. So I had my hat low and I think I was looking “suspicious” just as a Black man with my brim low, when I was really just trying to cover my face. They came to my window, pulled me over. I feel like if I was a white man driving, they wouldn’t question me about my tints. They told me to roll down my back window; they look in my car as if they’re looking for something. I feel like that was the real thing, they were trying to catch somebody slipping. That just happened three days ago. I almost didn’t even name that because I am so used to that. That’s something that I feel like somebody my age that’s white doesn’t have to go through, especially in New York City. On the other hand, every time I’m on the plane in first class — this is a lesser evil but it still represents their mind state — I promise you, 60 percent of the time somebody asks me what basketball team do I play for or do I rap. [Laughs] I am a rapper, I wish I could tell them something better — that happens all the time and I hate it. I hate that we’re stereotyped and I hate that I’m fitting into the same stereotype.

Read more from his very good interview over at BET.

Meanwhile, J. Cole isn’t the only one that’s having a conversation surrounding race and privileges of certain skin tones. Just this week, rapper Macklemore revealed that he knows he wouldn’t have been as successful if he was a black man.

If you’re going to be a white dude and do this sh-t, I think you have to take some level of accountability. You have to acknowledge where the art came from, where it is today, how you’re benefiting from it. At the very least, just bringing up those points and acknowledging that, yes, I understand my privilege, I understand how it works for me in society, and how it works for me in 2013 with the success that The Heist has had.

We made a great album but I do think we have benefited from being white and the media grabbing on to something. A song like ‘Thrift Shop’ was safe enough for the kids. It was like, ‘This is music that my mom likes and that I can like as a teenager,’ and even though I’m cussing my ass off in the song, the fact that I’m a white guy, parents feel safe. They let their six-year-olds listen to it. I mean it’s just…it’s different. And would that success have been the same if I would have been a black dude? I think the answer is no.



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