Just call him the late-night snack sleuth.
J. Cole is more famous for his rhymes than for his ice cream controversies, but in a recent video clip that made its way onto social media, the script was flipped. While in some sort of general store located on the border of Germany and Switzerland, Cole noticed a wrapper on a particular brand of frozen dessert that would raise the eyebrows of most people (especially any PR personnel) in the room.
"What the f**k is going on?" asked the rapper, while holding a Nogger bar up to the camera. There is no typo, that's exactly how it's spelled. The product is made by GB Glace, Sweden's largest marker of ice cream products. That company is owned by the mega-conglomerate Unilever, which makes it hard to believe that this kind of barely-there logic passes as a standardized name that's on store shelves everywhere. Apparently, this isn't the first time GB Glace has courted controversy with this particular subdivision of their ice cream empire. In 2005, they landed in hot water after introduced a new kind of ice cream bar called Nogger Black. Using a black licorice coating instead of the usual milk chocolate one, you can see why many were incensed when the incident first occurred. Even worse? The typeface for the Nogger Black name was in 90's-style graffiti. Cue the facepalming.
Slate criticized the product at the time, a point of view that J. Cole clearly shares, as he seems genuinely taken aback in the video. The rapper comments on how the Germans think "they slick," but such a transgression couldn't escape the eagle eyes of the 4 Your Eyez Only artist. Fun fact: Cole was actually born in Germany, at a U.S. military base. His mother later relocated him and the rest of his family to North Carolina after his father left them. There's no telling if the rapper was old enough to register any memories of similarly-named ice cream bars when he was a kid, but there's no doubt he'll remember which bar not to buy when he's next in Germany.