J. Cole, A Tribe Called Quest's Ali Shaheed Talk 'Be Free,' Kendrick Lamar and '2014 Forest Hills Drive'

Fresh off the release of his third album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, J. Cole decided to give his first post-release interview with NPR. While that might seem like an odd choice, the segment he joined features Ali Shaheed (A Tribe Called Quest) and Frannie Kelley, a duo that consistently churns out impressive dialogues with hip-hop stars.

We've broken down some of the conversation's best bits, while the full thing stretches for more than an hour (see audio link at the bottom of this page).

On the theme of the new album... Well, last year I was like, "Dang. It's about to be 2014." And right when I said that, it all clicked. Because that was always my favorite number, you know what I mean? Just for that house, I always loved 2-0-1-4. And that's when I knew like, OK: that's the title of the album and that album gotta come out in the year 2014. And this is the year I buy the house back.

On dropping it at the end of the year... I love the fact that everybody was saying, "This is the worst year for hip-hop. Hip-hop is terrible this year. Nobody's selling." And that - forget the sales. "Nobody's good. The albums are trash." I was loving it because the whole time they were saying it I was like, sitting there like, "Yeah. Just watch." Like, you know? "Just watch. Give me two months. You gone see." So I like how that worked out.

On getting political support from other rappers... But I feel like it ain't enough of us trying. You know what I'm saying? It's frustrating. There's too much of us trying to make money and a career off of the same cycle. You know what I mean? Off of the victim. We celebrating being victims. And that was cool to me before. It ain't cool to me no more. I can't even - I can't even celebrate that no more.

Check out the full interview below:

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J. Cole, A Tribe Called Quest