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Prince Williams / Contributor via Getty Images and Prince Williams / Contributor via Getty Images
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J.I.D. performs onstage during the 2025 Dreamville Music Festival at Dorothea Dix Park and J. Cole performs onstage during the 2025 Dreamville Music Festival at Dorothea Dix Park on April 6, 2025 in Raleigh, North Carolina
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Key Takeaways:
- JID joked that J. Cole might carry his own protection while biking.
- Cole’s public appearances often reflect a pattern of humility and independence.
- Fans have spotted Cole multiple times in public, seemingly without security.
J. Cole is never lacking, at least according to JID. On Monday (Nov. 3), during the “Club 520 Podcast,” the Atlanta rapper said his “Off Deez” collaborator might be one of the most “down-to-earth” celebrities out there, but that doesn’t mean you can just run up on him.
About halfway through the episode, DJ Wells joked about Cole “riding bikes and s**t,” to which JID speculated he probably rolls with armed security, or even better, he’s armed himself. “He probably got security with the fire on them right behind him, or he got the fire himself,” the Dreamville artist humorously explained.
“It’s so cool because bruh still remained who he is. Even right now, he’s probably doing his music, working, with his family and stuff like that, and when he pops out, it’s going to be the same thing,” JID continued. “So, linking with somebody like that and then me being able to use his platform and help me get the ball rolling in my career, you can’t ask for no better.”
To put it in perspective, the Friday Night Lights artist has been seen plenty of times just cruising solo on his bike or doing random side quests. In 2024, a few fans bumped into him while he was riding through New York City.
In June of that same year, someone posted a video of Cole visiting a Tesla dealership. “The manager was ignoring him [because] he didn’t know who he was and continued persuading me to place the order for a car,” a TikTok user wrote alongside footage of him checking out the Cybertruck.
Then, a month before that, a fan spotted the North Carolina native sitting on the beach with his laptop and headphones plugged in. “Me: Goes to the beach to clear my head,” she captioned the TikTok video. “Me: Casually meets J. Cole.”