J. Cole recently sat down with Warriors general manager Bob Myers for his "Lead By Example" podcast, and Myers asked Cole about the dumbest thing he did as a kid. This prompted J. Cole to reveal that he began smoking cigarettes at the age of six, shocking Myers.
Cole revealed that his mother let him and his brother cruise the streets when they were little, which led to him hanging out with bigger kids while his 10-year-old brother was nearby. J. Cole began smoking about this time, and he later said, "To them, it’s funny – they’re 10 themselves – so it’s funny for themselves. Nobody’s really worried about me. They’re 10 and smoking cigarettes."
Cole remarked, recounting the events that followed, "This is going on for 2-3 weeks. One day, I’m down the street at a house where it was happening at and my brother comes up, and I asked one of our homeboys in the neighborhood, 'You got any cigarettes?'"
J. Cole explained that his brother was taken aback because he had no idea his younger brother was smoking, and after the other kids confirmed it, J. Cole's brother walked away to inform their mother. J. Cole, on the other hand, revealed that he wasn't afraid of his mother punishing him because he planned to lie to her.
J. Cole's mother was one step ahead of her son, and she smelled his breath when he returned home. He went on to say, "This was the life-changing moment right here. I saw her face. When she smelled cigarettes on my breath, her face was like heartbroken, it was disbelief, it was crushed. It hit her. I’m the youngest of two. Her baby who is six, is A) capable of smoking cigarettes, and B) lying dead to her face about it."
The complete interview is available below.
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