J. Cole Talks Illuminati, Mariah Carey Crush, & Kendrick Lamar Joint Album

Fresh off his appearance at Harvard, J. Cole hit the airwaves to promote his upcoming album Born Sinner. During his visit to Jenny Boom Boom on Hot 93.7, the Roc Nation MC spoke about everything from his childhood crush on Mariah Carey to his joint album with Kendrick Lamar.

Cole admitted that before signing his deal, he believed the Illuminati rumors, but after meeting Jay-Z, that changed. “I was one of those people,” he said.

Plus, find out about his Harvard experience and get the latest on Born Sinner.

On his childhood crush on Mariah Carey: “I used to pray that Mariah Carey had a daughter my age.”

On past rumors connecting him to Rihanna: “That actually helped my record sales a whole lot.”

On his longtime girlfriend: “She holds me down. She’s great.”

On his joint album with Kendrick Lamar: “It’s still happening. The last time we got in was months ago, but we’ll finish that. … It’s like my little cousin, man. It’s like when you used to have your cousin come over and all you did was play basketball and play video games and ya’ll like the same things, it was like that.”

On his sophomore album Born Sinner: “It’s like an autobiography, so you’ll have a lot of dirt to play with.”

On the Illuminati: “I’m a conspiracy theorist. I believed those videos,” said Cole, who used to watch videos that tried to prove Jay-Z was a member of the secret society.

“And then you meet [Jay] and you see how things were and you like, ‘Nah, man. That’s bogus.’ That’s somebody who’s so far away from the truth and what’s actually happening, just creating something. They’re probably high.”

He plans to announce a release date for Born Sinner in the next couple weeks.