The North Carolina rapper describes his connection to Jay Z on the cover of Complex Magazine.

Ahead of the release of Fayetville, North Carolina rapper J.Cole’s upcoming album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, the artist spoke to Complex magazine about the state of his hometown.

“People I grew up with tell me it’s getting worse,” J.Cole says in an interview with Complex scheduled to appear in the December issue. “I don’t know if that has to do with the economy or if the education is getting worse. On the flipside, Fayetteville has some heroes now—even if they’re rappers or athletes. We never even had that [when I was growing up].”

J. Cole said that he is “forever grateful” to Jay Z for signing him. He described how important it was to get the ‘Roc Chain’ put on him.

“That was a top life moment,” J. Cole says to Complex. “I don’t soak shit up well, but after that night I definitely took a moment to. It wasn’t about that moment of the chain. It was like, it took so long to even get this dude to come out on stage with me. It took so long to get this guy to come to shows.”

J. Cole’s image is featured on the cover of Complex’s December 2014/ January 2015’s issue. The Dreamville Records boss says that he is not all too interested in business.

“I’m not excited by business,” J.Cole says in the interview.  “I want to make music. I want to perform. Louis Vuitton—or whoever the fuck—could come to me right now and say, “We want to do a major deal with you,” and I’d be like, “Thank you. That’s flattering. And yeah, fine, let’s do it.” But there’s no excitement. Excitement is the anticipation of knowing people are about to hear my music. That other shit is an honor and I appreciate it because it [shows that] the work has spread so far that it’s making it on these brands’ radar.”

The Born Sinner artist, born Jermaine Lamarr Cole in Frankfurt, Germany, to a military family, said that elevating his art form is his main ambition.

“I want to be a great artist first, and as good of a businessman as I can be without taking away from my art form,” J.Cole says in the interview. “I’ve been through worrying about a hit and it forcing me to make [a certain] type of song because I got all this pressure. Business is only satisfying in the security of it and the fact that the better I am at business, the better I am at providing for my family. Business moves don’t bring me happiness. ”

Cole’s upcoming album is said to be a tribute to his home, one of the artist’s most artistic places. A recent promotional documentary shows J. Cole describing his first cypher.

“My old stomping grounds, high school, Terry Sanford class of 2003,” J. Cole says in the video. “My first cypher was right up there. Look [he points to the top of the bleachers]. I was like 5 foot 7, high-pitched voice, skinny, walked up there with the big boys."

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