{"id":84700,"date":"2014-12-13T12:39:15","date_gmt":"2014-12-13T11:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackouthiphop.com\/?p=84700"},"modified":"2014-12-13T12:39:15","modified_gmt":"2014-12-13T11:39:15","slug":"j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/","title":{"rendered":"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"540\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/181138210&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;visual=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The day after his third album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was released, J. Cole spoke to Microphone Check hosts Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley. It was the morning before he performed &#8220;Be Free,&#8221; the song he made about Michael Brown, on Letterman. Cole said he was nervous about it, but apparently not so worried that he would change his clothes. He wore the same hoodie for this interview that he did on TV. The conversation \u2013- Mic Check&#8217;s second with Cole \u2014 reveals a person newly comfortable with himself, his abilities and what needs to be done.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The day after his third album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was released, J. Cole spoke&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-download","category-interviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.8 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The day after his third album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was released, J. Cole spoke to Microphone Check hosts Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley. It was the morning before he performed &quot;Be Free,&quot; the song he made about Michael Brown, on Letterman. Cole said he was nervous about it, but apparently not so worried\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"da2handz\"\/>\n\t<meta name=\"google-site-verification\" content=\"Ifre_vB77_wFNVhQXnoGsQmneX3D_8ReLIBjU_bbS0A\" \/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.8\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blackout Hip Hop\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check - Blackout Hip Hop\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The day after his third album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was released, J. Cole spoke to Microphone Check hosts Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley. It was the morning before he performed &quot;Be Free,&quot; the song he made about Michael Brown, on Letterman. Cole said he was nervous about it, but apparently not so worried\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:section\" content=\"Download\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-13T11:39:15+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-13T11:39:15+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check - Blackout Hip Hop\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The day after his third album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was released, J. Cole spoke to Microphone Check hosts Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley. It was the morning before he performed &quot;Be Free,&quot; the song he made about Michael Brown, on Letterman. Cole said he was nervous about it, but apparently not so worried\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"da2handz\" \/>\n\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"aioseo-schema\">\n\t\t\t{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\\\/#article\",\"name\":\"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check - Blackout Hip Hop\",\"headline\":\"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/da2handz\\\/#author\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-13T12:39:15+01:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-13T12:39:15+01:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\\\/#webpage\"},\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\\\/#webpage\"},\"articleSection\":\"Download, Interviews\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\\\/#breadcrumblist\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog#listItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/download\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Download\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/download\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Download\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/download\\\/\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog#listItem\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check\",\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/download\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Download\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Blackout Hip Hop\",\"description\":\"Blackout Hip Hop\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/da2handz\\\/#author\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/da2handz\\\/\",\"name\":\"da2handz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\\\/#authorImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6bd8e9f9a0d9c5c0a5d5c351cc9dde06c9ab9fb5417a021428176f28dcb4c4a8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"da2handz\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\\\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\\\/\",\"name\":\"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check - Blackout Hip Hop\",\"description\":\"The day after his third album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was released, J. Cole spoke to Microphone Check hosts Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley. It was the morning before he performed \\\"Be Free,\\\" the song he made about Michael Brown, on Letterman. Cole said he was nervous about it, but apparently not so worried\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\\\/#breadcrumblist\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/da2handz\\\/#author\"},\"creator\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/da2handz\\\/#author\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-13T12:39:15+01:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-13T12:39:15+01:00\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Blackout Hip-Hop\",\"description\":\"Blackout Hip Hop\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blackouthiphop.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"}}]}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO -->\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check - Blackout Hip Hop","description":"The day after his third album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was released, J. Cole spoke to Microphone Check hosts Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley. It was the morning before he performed \"Be Free,\" the song he made about Michael Brown, on Letterman. Cole said he was nervous about it, but apparently not so worried","canonical_url":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/","robots":"max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"google-site-verification":"Ifre_vB77_wFNVhQXnoGsQmneX3D_8ReLIBjU_bbS0A","miscellaneous":""},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/#article","name":"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check - Blackout Hip Hop","headline":"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/author\/da2handz\/#author"},"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/#organization"},"datePublished":"2014-12-13T12:39:15+01:00","dateModified":"2014-12-13T12:39:15+01:00","inLanguage":"en-US","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/#webpage"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/#webpage"},"articleSection":"Download, Interviews"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog#listItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/category\/download\/#listItem","name":"Download"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/category\/download\/#listItem","position":2,"name":"Download","item":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/category\/download\/","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/#listItem","name":"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check"},"previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog#listItem","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/#listItem","position":3,"name":"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check","previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/category\/download\/#listItem","name":"Download"}}]},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Blackout Hip Hop","description":"Blackout Hip Hop","url":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/author\/da2handz\/#author","url":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/author\/da2handz\/","name":"da2handz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/#authorImage","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6bd8e9f9a0d9c5c0a5d5c351cc9dde06c9ab9fb5417a021428176f28dcb4c4a8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"da2handz"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/","name":"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check - Blackout Hip Hop","description":"The day after his third album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was released, J. Cole spoke to Microphone Check hosts Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley. It was the morning before he performed \"Be Free,\" the song he made about Michael Brown, on Letterman. Cole said he was nervous about it, but apparently not so worried","inLanguage":"en-US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/#breadcrumblist"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/author\/da2handz\/#author"},"creator":{"@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/author\/da2handz\/#author"},"datePublished":"2014-12-13T12:39:15+01:00","dateModified":"2014-12-13T12:39:15+01:00"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/","name":"Blackout Hip-Hop","description":"Blackout Hip Hop","inLanguage":"en-US","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/#organization"}}]},"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"Blackout Hip Hop","og:type":"article","og:title":"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check - Blackout Hip Hop","og:description":"The day after his third album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was released, J. Cole spoke to Microphone Check hosts Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley. It was the morning before he performed &quot;Be Free,&quot; the song he made about Michael Brown, on Letterman. Cole said he was nervous about it, but apparently not so worried","og:url":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/","article:section":"Download","article:published_time":"2014-12-13T11:39:15+00:00","article:modified_time":"2014-12-13T11:39:15+00:00","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:title":"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check - Blackout Hip Hop","twitter:description":"The day after his third album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was released, J. Cole spoke to Microphone Check hosts Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley. It was the morning before he performed &quot;Be Free,&quot; the song he made about Michael Brown, on Letterman. Cole said he was nervous about it, but apparently not so worried","twitter:label1":"Written by","twitter:data1":"da2handz"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"84700","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":null,"keyphrases":null,"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"content","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":null,"og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":"Download","og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":true,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[],"defaultGraph":"","defaultPostTypeGraph":""},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":null,"robots_max_videopreview":null,"robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":null,"local_seo":null,"breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"ai":null,"created":"2022-03-04 11:01:06","updated":"2025-06-06 07:53:42","seo_analyzer_scan_date":null},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"<div class=\"aioseo-breadcrumbs\"><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\" title=\"Home\">Home<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/category\/download\/\" title=\"Download\">Download<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\tJ. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog"},{"label":"Download","link":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/category\/download\/"},{"label":"J. Cole interview with NPR Microphone Check","link":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/j-cole-interview-with-npr-microphone-check\/"}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pG6fW-m28","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}