Earlier this week, “The Breakfast Club” radio host, Charlemagne, called J. Cole the Tim Duncan of rap. Although some people may think an MJ or Kobe comparison would be more flattering, Charlemagne had a point. J. Cole give us the fundamentals of rap ( just like Duncan did with with basketball) every time he hops on a track. Nothing to flashy or extra, he just get’s the job done, bar for bar, even the rap-singing-thing he does. Once again, this week J. Cole proved himself to be one of the greatest rappers of our generation by releasing his new single, “Middle Child”. In this track J. Cole tackles multiple topics, and what we are going to do is give commentary on about 3 of them. Ready?…aight let’s go.
1) Cole talked about a whole lot, but let’s first talk about this verse:
“Back when the rap game was prayin’ I’d diss They act like two legends cannot coexist But I’d never beef with a n***a for nothin’ If I smoke a rapper, it’s gon’ be legit It won’t be for clout, it won’t be for fame It won’t be ’cause my shit ain’t sellin’ the same”
Here Cole brings up a marketing method that has been exploited by about 50% of rappers in the game today – rap beef. There once was a time when rappers had beef because one offended the other in some way, shape or form. However, today we see rappers engage in their rap beefs, or really just trolling, every morning on “The Breakfast Club”. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s very entertaining, I think 69 is the funniest rapper of all time. But when we look at the principal of things, we got people bashing each other’s work, personal life and livelihood just to get clout – that’s wack. Apparently J. Cole agrees.
2) Second topic:
“Too many n****s in cycle of jail Spending they birthdays inside of a cell We coming from a long bloodline of trauma We raised by our mamas, Lord we gotta heal We hurting our sisters, the babies as well We killing our brothers, they poisoned the well Distorted self image, we set up to fail I’ma make sure that the real gon’ prevail, n***a”
Here J. Cole talks about Mass Incarceration – a topic he is no stranger too, as he addressed in a larger scale on the album “4 Your Eyez Only”. You can see that Cole believes that there are too many young Black men in prison who needed guidance instead of punishment. I believe when people present this statements like this, others are quick to think they are sympathizers with criminals. I would say they aren’t sympathizing with criminals, only stating observation. When we get down to the basis of life, a lot – not all, but a lot – of us do things that are a result of misguidance we received from our bad role models or the lack thereof. And what J. Cole is pointing out is that the guys that need more guidance are those of us that made these decisions but weren’t lucky enough to walk away from them.
3) Last Topic:
“I’m dead in the middle of two generations I’m little bro and big bro all at once Just left the lab with young 21 Savage I’m ’bout to go and meet Jigga for lunch”
This topic is less deep than the last, but nonetheless, is the main topic of the song. The song is called “Middle Child” and this title is meant to encapsulate the world J. Cole is currently living in, as a man between two generations – the oldheads and the new era. He states that he’s a big and little bro at the same time. In this song J. Cole just speaks what’s on his mind – lets us know what he’s thinking. If you look at it the way he’s put it in this song, he truly is the middle child, the kid that isn’t like his older siblings nor is he like his younger ones. He receives and gives advice, he doesn’t really compare to anyone else.
- Cole has a special way of creating new windows of perspectives to look through. And he doesn’t stop there. He is an artist that always carries a positive message. Other topics touched on in just this song was: anti-drug use, being a loyal friend and gun violence. The guy truly is like no other rapper in the industry right now, delivering consistent knowledge on ever track or feature, every season of the year. Thank you J. Cole – you truly are the middle child.
Tell us what you thought of the song in the comment section below!
