When thinking of the rap greats of this generation, the first person to come to mind for me and many others is J Cole, a rapper from North Carolina who built from the bottom up. In 2000, J Cole’s mom, Kay, bought him an ASR-X music sampler for Christmas, his first ever sampler, and the rest is history. He released his first studio album in 2011, Cole World: the Sideline Story and it immediately debuted number one on the US Billboard 200, after this, everyone knew J Cole.
Three integral parts to J Cole’s music is his knack for storytelling, the music, and his lyrics. These three things set him apart. J Cole sites many different artists as influences like Nas, Eminem, Andre 3000, Tupac, and more. You can hear Nas and Andre 3000 in his music style, in the way he mixes sounds and uses samples. Tupac and Eminem shine through in his storytelling and lyrics.
“He’s a lyrical genius” says Miles Newsome, Junior. In J Cole’s music, he always speaks about things he has gone through, he communicates his experiences with these certain things, and then leaves it for his listeners to interpret and think about afterwards. One thing that is very admirable about him is his ability to talk about hard topics and do it in such a thoughtful and elegant manner. He speaks about racism, he goes in depth about the impact being raised by his white mother had on him, he talks about drug abuse, abortion, and so much more. This quality of storytelling is such a gift and he uses it beautifully and with a purpose.
With every album J Cole seems to draw his audience back in for more. Each album has a different sound, a different topic which all flow perfectly together. The sounds and the music and the way they connect are a huge part of music making and he takes into account this aspect and uses it to his advantage. He mixes his sounds like the birds chirping in the beginning of “No Role Modelz” and uses samples in order to paint a picture like the way the music blends in between “She’s Mine Pt 1” and “She’s Mine Pt 2”, he does this to communicate, in this case, a continuation of the story. In other songs and albums, he uses sounds to convey a certain emotion or feeling, maybe even a memory, something to connect with the listener. With each song comes a different beat, more bass, different samples, with each song there is something new and refreshing to keep you coming back for more.
“He always brings a part of himself in his music, he stands out from the rest” says Alyssa Collado, a junior at West Orange. This is why J Cole is, hands-down, one of the best artists of this generation. He is easy to relate to with the words he speaks, he draws people in, he makes people want to listen.
