J. Cole has responded to the Fayetteville State University officials who weren’t pleased with the school’s cheerleaders’ participation in his debut music video. According to the Roc Nation rapper, the officials should have been happy that he has become successful and still wanted to come back and show love to his hometown instead of criticizing his lyrics.
“That’s something that happens all the time in the Black community; it’s like a generational gap,” said Cole while talking to MTV.
“They don’t get it…They can’t see the good out of the situation that a kid from Fayetteville made it out and made something out of [himself] and wants to come home and represent to the rest of the world. They can’t see past the curse words.”
Cole also added that he understood where they were coming from but thinks that if they tried to get a better understanding of the situation that it wouldn’t have been such a big issue. Dr. James Anderson, the chancellor for the HBCU, and Frank Till Jr., the Cumberland County school’s Superintendent, were the most outspoken against Cole’s Who Dat video and called for the video to be pulled down.
“I think it shows the school and the city in a negative light,” said Till to the Fayetteville Observer. “I think it was a legitimate mistake on the school’s part. We don’t allow that kind of language in our school. Why would we allow our students to do something like this?”
- By Kim Taylor
