J. Cole is using his wealth to give back to those less fortunate, looking to help single mothers with families by renting out his childhood home to them… For free.
His Fayatteville, N.C. home, which is the inspiration for the title of his new album 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was a major factor in his life. After his parents divorced, his mother was forced to move into a dangerous trailer park that Cole says was his “first glimpse of the hood.” So when his family was finally able to move into his now-iconic childhood home, it was an excitement he’ll never forget–something he wants other children to experience too.
“What we gon’ do, we still working it out right now,” he explains his goal for the home during an interview with The Combat Jack Show. “Obviously it’s a detailed, fragile situation I don’t wanna play with. My goal is to have that be a haven for families. So every two years a new family will come in, they live rent-free.”
He continues, “The idea is that it’s a single mother with multiple kids, and she’s coming from a place where all her kids is sharing a room. She might have two, three kids, they’re sharing a room. She gets to come here rent-free. I want her kids to feel how I felt when we got to the house.”
On that note, Cole took the opportunity to tell fans giving the home unwanted attention to understand what he’s trying to turn it into… A.K.A. back off.
“By the way, tell people to stop going to my house and sitting on my roof taking pictures,” he said. “And they stealing the fucking street sign!”
Meanwhile, the rapper saw some harsh criticism last month after a song from his new album leaked online. The lyrics throw shade at some of the biggest artists for being white and “snatching” black people’s “sound.”
Cole tried to shrug off the criticism, saying it was just a joke, and later admitting, “All good jokes contain true shit.”
Listen to his full interview below:
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