J. Cole has come a long way from being broke to scoring two No. 1 albums. The Roc Nation MC reflects on his humble beginnings on the MTV special “Life & Rhymes.” In the nine-minute episode, Cole returns to his old stomping ground of Jamaica, Queens.

He takes viewers to the apartment, known as Mohammed’s crib, which he lived in during and after his graduation from St. John’s University.

“Waking up in this every day is so far from where I wanted to be, but this is the room where it started feeling real,” said Cole.

But his landlord, Mohammed, believed in him and let him and his homeboys live rent free. “This man let me stack up my rent to the ceiling,” he said.

So when he finally made it, he paid him in full.

He also details the making of his TLC-assisted single “Crooked Smile.” “It was really a journey to make that song,” said Cole of the empowering record. “I’ve never worked this hard on a song.”

Watch Cole’s homecoming and hear him break down the lyrics to “Crooked Smile” on “Life & Rhymes: J. Cole.”