J. COLE
BIOGRAPHY
- Rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer
- Born on January 28, 1985, in Frankfurt, Germany (34)
- Drake complimented him saying: “You are looking at one of the smartest, greatest, most legendary artists of our generation.”
- Was abandoned by his father when he was a baby. He, his mother, and his older brother lived in a trailer park where they struggled to make ends meet. When his mom remarried, they moved into a nicer home, but the marriage crumbled and they lost their house as Cole was ready to leave for college. His stepfather became abusive and his mother became addicted to crack under the influence of her boyfriend.
- Moved to New York and attended St John’s University, graduating magna cum laude in 2007 with a degree in communications and with a 3.8 GPA
- Cole signed to Roc Nation and started to appear as a guest on tracks by Wale, Jay Z, and Talib Kweli.
AWARDS AND FAMOUS WORK
2014 Forest Hills: No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Billboard Rap Album of the Year, certified double platinum
4 Your Eyez Only: No. 1 on the Billboard 200, album of the year 2017, top rap album
Best male hip hop artist 2018
Middle child: highest charting track, No. 4 on the Billboard 100 chart
MUSIC VIDEO
ANALYSIS OF CROOKED SMILE
We ain’t picture perfect but we worth the picture still… (13)
Stare in the mirror but it’s clear that you can’t face what’s wrong (14)
No need to fix what God already put his paintbrush on (14)
Your roommate yelling, “Why you gotta take so long?” (12)
What it’s like to have a crooked smile (9)
Take it from a man that loves what you got
And baby girl you’re a star, don’t let ’em tell you-you’re not… (14)
And if you need a friend to pick you up, I’ll be around (14)
And we can ride with the windows down, the music loud (13)
I can tell you ain’t laughed in a while (9)
But I wanna see that crooked smile (9)
MEANING:
This is Cole himself talking about the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCBBxd5XhXA
- In the music video, J. Cole and his family is found to be celebrating his younger sister’s birthday. There is this parallel structure to the video at the beginning when the white officer is brushing his teeth with J. Cole also brushing his teeth. In a sense, the video could be tackling racism and how sometimes innocence is killed due to fear of another race. However, it also has the message where J.Cole wants his sister to embrace who she is rather than what she is expected to be.
- Looking at the structure of the song, the only key consistency is the last line, which implies that embracing her “crooked smile” – like the crooked structure of this poem – is necessary because it’s these differences that make them special. (Like a fingerprint)
- However, this lack of order is also what may make this song seem imperfect and not “right” in a structural sense, which is what influences the officer at the end of the song to shoot her.
- Internal rhyme adds more depth to the song instead of just having end-rhymes seen in the line “ I’ll be around And we can ride with the windows down, the music loud”
- Allusion to the book of genesis when God said “Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness”
ANALYSIS OF FIRE SQUAD
We all kings
(We all kings nigga)
Kings of ourselves first and foremost
(True)
While the people debate who’s the king of this rap game
Here comes lil’ ol’ Jermaine
With every ounce of strength in his veins
To snatch the crown from whoever y’all think has it
But rather than place it on his head as soon as he grabs it
Poof, boom, paow, it’s like magic
With a flash and a BANG the crown disintegrates
And falls from the Earth from which it came
It’s done
Ain’t gonna be no more kings
Be wary of any man that claims
Because deep down he claims onto the need for power
But reality he’s a coward
Ultimately he’s scared to die
And sometimes so am I
But when I’m in tune with the highest
I realize
The fear lies in my lack of awareness of the other side
Today I know that we are the same
Are the same, you and I
Different kind of skin, a different set of eyes
Two different minds, but only one God
(It’s only one God nigga)
It’s for all the kings
Cause deep down I know every pore just wanna be loved
MEANING:
The meaning behind these lyrics is the idea of being on top of everyone and being better than everyone else. in the lyrics, Cole describes how everyone tries too hard to get the “crown” and it will make them feel validated. Everyone wants everyone else to see how well they’re doing, but never want to show the bad. The song is stating that the only reason Cole would want the crown is so that he can destroy it. This would put everyone in their place and remind them that no one other than God is above any of us. These lyrics are very meaningful and have a really powerful message behind it.
STYLISTIC TYPICALITIES/THEMES
- Love and Infidelity
- Self-accountability
- Youth Empowerment
- Addiction
- Social status and Money
Writes about real-life struggles rather than glorifying negative ideas like drugs, obsession with material things, and promiscuity. His ability to distance himself from the superficiality of contemporary rap songs through writing about meaningful problems is what makes J. Cole an admired rap artist around the world.
PERSONAL RESPONSE/EMULATION
“You are perfect exactly as you are. With all your flaws and problems, there’s no need to change anything. All you need to change is the thought that you aren’t good enough.”
“You have to hurt in order to know. Fall in order to grow. Lose in order to gain. Because most of life’s lessons are learned in pain.”
“You have no control over what somebody else feels about you, but you have 100 percent control over how you feel about yourself and how you feel about the people around you and how you handle life.”
“I keep my head high
I got my wings to carry me
I don’t know freedom
I want my dreams to rescue me
I keep my faith strong
I ask the Lord to follow me
I’ve been unfaithful
I don’t know why you call on me”
– Apparently by J. Cole
This pain, take it all away before I have to face the day that I can’t face. When I learn that being an anomaly doesn’t do anything for you, honestly. Keep trying and see where it’ll get you, left behind with no modesty. Pick up the crown, tell em’ all to sit down cuz you have something to say, something that is true for you today. Tell em’ that this disrespect isn’t working yet and that you ain’t taking these shots no more because they couldn’t care if you were to just rot or not. What’s the point of havin’ first class if I can’t sit, if none of em’ will ever quit and stop pointing their fingers at me. Whats the point of it.
– Abhay
