About halfway through Kendrick Lamar's intimate Brooklyn show Friday night, the anointed king of freestyling decided to invite fans to cypher with him onstage.One of the people in the crowd who raised his hand was 28-year old Brooklyn-raised Jerome Cowell. Freestyling with Kendrick Lamar is what I imagine it would be like if LeBron James handed you a basketball and asked if you wanted to play pick up. The appropriate reaction would be to freeze up. Cowell, however, seemed unfazed by the insanity of the situation and happily freestyled for about five minutes with one of the best rappers in the world much to the audience's delight. Kendrick also seemed visibly pleased that the Cowell could hold his own just fine.Noisey caught up with Cowell two days after the show to see what it was like to spit bars with Kendrick Lamar.Noisey: Hey Jerome. So what has the past 48 hours been like since the show?
Jerome Cowell: My lord. You have no idea. It's been super, super, super positive. A lot of fresh, good energy has been coming my way. Just…yeah.First can you tell me a bit about yourself—when you're not freestyling with Kendrick Lamar, what do you do?
[Laughs] When I'm not on stage with the best MC, I'm in the lab obsessing over my next creative project. I'm building my brand as a curator and an artist. I'm working on art installments, I just had a photography show in the Lower East Side.Do you perform and make music regularly?
I sort of just go with the flow. When I'm super inspired I'll record and perform, I have some of my old stuff on my Soundcloud. I'm actually working with a producer on a four to five track EP going, just for the love of it.You seemed pretty prepared to get on stage and cipher with like the king of freestyling. What was going through your head as you were walking up there?
When I was walking up, I realized how huge the moment was but I thought to myself, you know what, I just have to tap into the essence and represent where I'm from. Which is why I adamantly requested a very vintage vibe from the band. And then just have fun with it. I didn't want to get into my head too much and be like, oh my god it's Kendrick. I didn't allow that to eat away at me. I just took the moment and just bounced back and forth like Geminis do, you know. It was sweet, it was sweet.Did you feel like the expectations were even higher since you were coming on after that other kid who bombed?
[Laughs]. Well let me tell you something about that. When Kendrick first initiated the whole challenge, come onstage thing…if you listen to the audio you'll see him say to someone on the far right of the stage "you rap? You rap." and that was me. So I was going to go on first but then I was like, you know this is Kendrick, this is king Kendrick, let someone else break the ice, good or bad. So luckily, that kid shattered the ice and I was able to bring the heat.How much of your work and music is influenced by Kendrick? Are you a fan?
Oh yeah, since Section.80. A good friend of mine put me on to Kendrick back in 2009, 2010 when I was in art school. Just to hear how different yet relatable he was definitely influenced me musically, just to remain in pocket with who I am and my message.That kind of cypher and freestyle is so distinct to New York hip-hop. How did you feel being from Brooklyn and being able to do that?
Proud 100 percent. 100 percent. He mentioned his S.O.B. runs, from years back. That's a real thing. That was cool that he highlighted that. And did it on the livestream so even if you weren't there, you were there.In hindsight, I was thinking about it yesterday; there's a big discussion going on about lyricism, who has lyrics, is it coming back, what does this certain style mean, whatever. I think it brought a clarity to it that it's not about the ego, it's about the culture itself. It's about sharpening your tools and having a vibe. That felt good to do that with Kendrick Lamar.Anything else you want to add about your experience?
It came at the most pivotal point in my life. In short, that's because my great aunt, who raised me, is ill right now and I've had my own personal battles with health issues. To be able to be at an event with such a peaceful crowd, good vibes and an amazing artist and to share a moment and exchange energy and life with one another, to the whole crowd, to the livestream, that was great, that was therapeutic. I hope I can continue pushing this momentum further.I feel like once i brought my own personal intent and energy to it, he was able to see kind of you know, at the end of the day, I was this dude at one point too who was aspiring.And the live band? Come on. Only the Roots really do that. Not many other people do that. So for us younger cats to see that, and on such a grand scale and moment, phenomenal, phenomenal.(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity).Photo by @ComplexOriginalOlivia Becker is a staff reporter for Vice News. Follow her on Twitter.
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Jerome Cowell: My lord. You have no idea. It's been super, super, super positive. A lot of fresh, good energy has been coming my way. Just…yeah.First can you tell me a bit about yourself—when you're not freestyling with Kendrick Lamar, what do you do?
[Laughs] When I'm not on stage with the best MC, I'm in the lab obsessing over my next creative project. I'm building my brand as a curator and an artist. I'm working on art installments, I just had a photography show in the Lower East Side.Do you perform and make music regularly?
I sort of just go with the flow. When I'm super inspired I'll record and perform, I have some of my old stuff on my Soundcloud. I'm actually working with a producer on a four to five track EP going, just for the love of it.You seemed pretty prepared to get on stage and cipher with like the king of freestyling. What was going through your head as you were walking up there?
When I was walking up, I realized how huge the moment was but I thought to myself, you know what, I just have to tap into the essence and represent where I'm from. Which is why I adamantly requested a very vintage vibe from the band. And then just have fun with it. I didn't want to get into my head too much and be like, oh my god it's Kendrick. I didn't allow that to eat away at me. I just took the moment and just bounced back and forth like Geminis do, you know. It was sweet, it was sweet.
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[Laughs]. Well let me tell you something about that. When Kendrick first initiated the whole challenge, come onstage thing…if you listen to the audio you'll see him say to someone on the far right of the stage "you rap? You rap." and that was me. So I was going to go on first but then I was like, you know this is Kendrick, this is king Kendrick, let someone else break the ice, good or bad. So luckily, that kid shattered the ice and I was able to bring the heat.How much of your work and music is influenced by Kendrick? Are you a fan?
Oh yeah, since Section.80. A good friend of mine put me on to Kendrick back in 2009, 2010 when I was in art school. Just to hear how different yet relatable he was definitely influenced me musically, just to remain in pocket with who I am and my message.That kind of cypher and freestyle is so distinct to New York hip-hop. How did you feel being from Brooklyn and being able to do that?
Proud 100 percent. 100 percent. He mentioned his S.O.B. runs, from years back. That's a real thing. That was cool that he highlighted that. And did it on the livestream so even if you weren't there, you were there.In hindsight, I was thinking about it yesterday; there's a big discussion going on about lyricism, who has lyrics, is it coming back, what does this certain style mean, whatever. I think it brought a clarity to it that it's not about the ego, it's about the culture itself. It's about sharpening your tools and having a vibe. That felt good to do that with Kendrick Lamar.
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It came at the most pivotal point in my life. In short, that's because my great aunt, who raised me, is ill right now and I've had my own personal battles with health issues. To be able to be at an event with such a peaceful crowd, good vibes and an amazing artist and to share a moment and exchange energy and life with one another, to the whole crowd, to the livestream, that was great, that was therapeutic. I hope I can continue pushing this momentum further.I feel like once i brought my own personal intent and energy to it, he was able to see kind of you know, at the end of the day, I was this dude at one point too who was aspiring.And the live band? Come on. Only the Roots really do that. Not many other people do that. So for us younger cats to see that, and on such a grand scale and moment, phenomenal, phenomenal.(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity).Photo by @ComplexOriginalOlivia Becker is a staff reporter for Vice News. Follow her on Twitter.