Before rising to superstardom, J. Cole experienced a pivotal rejection from Eminem‘s longtime manager, Paul Rosenberg, according to reports—a moment he now reflects on with candor. In his newly launched podcast, Inevitable, Cole dives into intimate discussions with his manager Ibrahim Hamad and filmmaker Scott Lazer, unpacking the stories that shaped his journey.
During a recent conversation, Ib and Cole reflected on the pivotal meetings they secured in the late 2000s. Though many didn’t materialize into opportunities, Cole saw them as proof of the traction he was beginning to build.
Cole stated, “After that meeting [with G-Unit], we got a meeting with two people: one was Chris Lighty and the other was – I think Sha [Money XL] had something to do with this – he got us a meeting with Paul Rosenberg who is Eminem’s manager forever and runs Shady Records.” “Just like being at 50’s house and meeting Mark Pitts, it was, ‘Now we’re talking momentum.’ Just a year prior, I was fucking waiting outside on some Hail Mary shit for JAY-Z, and now I’m getting real momentum of people calling like, ‘They want to come and see us, they want us to pull up and play music.’”
Lb then mentioned, “I remember at the Paul Rosenberg meeting, ’cause I was there for that, it really felt like he was doing someone a favor.”
In response, Cole said, “Chris Lighty’s energy was more like, ‘Yo, I’m just gonna give y’all some game. Y’all young n-ggas I heard about, boom boom boom.’ And Paul Rosenberg genuinely felt like he was disinterested and didn’t give a fuck. It literally felt like it was a favor. There was no vibe to that meeting, he didn’t see it, he didn’t get it. Which is cool, he didn’t play us at all.”
Cole then concluded by saying, “The fact that I was right there with Eminem’s fucking manager and somehow I made it to him and on his fucking radar was just more proof of, ‘Yo, just keep doing what you’re fucking doing.’”
Eminem Shouts Out J. Cole, Acknowledging a Decade-Long Evolution
On Eminem’s “Doomsday Pt. 2,” featured earlier this year on the All Is Yellow compilation from Lyrical Lemonade, the Detroit icon drops a reference to Cole calling out both the “No Role Modelz” rapper and Lyrical Lemonade’s Cole Bennett.
“And that’s why I’m back with Cole Bennett/ And I been at the level J. Cole been at,” he raps, a line that didn’t go unnoticed by Bennett, who shared his excitement on X, calling it “fire.”
This gesture carries weight, considering the history between the two artists. Ten years earlier, J. Cole had taken a subtle jab at Eminem in “Fire Squad,” comparing him to Elvis Presley as a white artist who “stole the sound” of black music. While Cole later clarified that his words were in jest, he remarked that “all good jokes contain true shit.”
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