Four years after their first interview J Cole and Nick Huff Barili link up for their fourth in-depth interview. In part 4 J Cole talks Kanye West, “Dumbing Down”, Power Trip Double Meaning + More.

On Kanye pushing boundaries: “I think there’s no rules. You can say what you want,” said Cole. “You know what I mean? Like you can say what you want whether you want to press people’s buttons or whether that’s how you really feel. That’s your poetic license. Is to test people’s boundaries. That’s the only way we still know we have boundaries. If nobody says something that makes us go ‘Wait a minute. I’m not fuckin with that. I’m not fuckin with him bringing Jesus on stage.’ Well shit, you didn’t know you had a boundary until he did it. You know what I mean? So, as an artist I respect him for pressing that button and making you react a certain way. You know what I mean? That’s amazing.”

On people having an issue with Kanye saying “I AM A GOD” but not tripping on rappers talking about Killing, Pimping, Etc. “Nobody has a problem with the nigga that caught 1,000 bodies on his record,” he said. “Nobody’s up in arms about that…But yet when somebody actually gets murdered. When niggas actually get murdered in Chicago or a police officer actually kills somebody, now you have a problem. So, you don’t have a problem with the man that just told you he killed somebody on his record. Not that I care cause I listen to it too, but you right, it’s funny the things we pick and choose to care about. Or you only care when the police officer kills a young, black male, but you don’t even give a fuck when a young, black male kills a young, black male.”

On Dumbing down: “I’m past that. You go through it though,” said Cole. “Because when you’re a student of the game and you study what works you see what works. And when we say ‘dumbed down’ I don’t mean become dumb. Dumbed down is actually being smart. It’s being smart. And I’ll give you an example…He’s [Kanye] writing lines that he knows are so simple for you. He’s not trying to go over your head. He’s putting it on a platter for you. He’s setting you up. Jay Z is the same dude that used to rap like this ‘badaddada.’ Reasonable Doubt was the most intricate shit, but he learned ‘Man, let me feed it to the people better.’”