An Unlikely Pair: J Cole and Dale Earnhardt Jr Share Magazine Cover

Jermaine Cole has been a man with many surprises lately starting with the surprise announcement of his latest album to currently being featured on “The Music Issue” of ESPN magazine with NASCAR great Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The buzz about an unlikely friendship between Cole and Earnhardt Jr. started when J Cole shouted out Earnhardt in the credits. The North Carolina rapper mentioned Earnhardt Jr’s name during a lengthy credits at the end of the album “2014 Forest Hills Drive” which sold 350,000 copies during the first week.

In an interview with ESPN, Cole admitted to randomly choosing to shout out Earnhardt Jr remembering that he read somewhere that the racer enjoyed listening to the song “Power Trip” before his races.

“There was an interview Dale Jr. did that asked him what he plays before races, and he said “J. Cole ‘Power Trip,” which freaked me out,” said Cole. “What is Dale Earnhardt Jr. doing playing my shit? How did he even find out about it?”

As it turns out the song came up on Dale Jr’s Pandora station quite a bit and he started looking into who J Cole was and it turns out the two have a North Carolina connection.

“It’s a connection, a North Carolina connection, and he reps North Carolina in his music, and he’s proud of where he’s from and bringing recognition to Fayetteville. I’m proud of North Carolina too,” said Earnhardt Jr.

Both stars hope that this will help to change people’s minds and eliminate some biases that the media has created. Who would have that that a random shout out could lead something as uncommon pairing of a rap star and NASCAR great. Read the original story here.