Comparison Of J. Cole And Rap Music

We as human beings change as we get older. We may end up doing or liking things we have not known we would have ever enjoyed, or we may end up finding out what we most condemned was in fact not as bad as it seemed. It may seem as strange but as a young adult I am new to the world of music. I did not get interested to listening to music until my junior year of high school. It was that year I started to get interested in specifically, hip hop and rap music. I was unsure at first because I was not used to hearing a lot of vulgar lyrics. It was not until a mid-junior year that I discovered specific artists who used the style of rap/hip hop to tell stories or spread messages to the public and that changed my perspective on that genre of music. Growing

Cole. He had released an album called “2014 Forest Hills Drive” and it was gaining a lot of attention right after its release. I decided to listen to the album and see what everyone was talking about. My reaction to this album, and specifically this artist, changed my perspective on rap/hip hop music. I was deeply intrigued by the lyrics that I heard, the entire album was a story about specific points in his life. Amazed by what I listened to, I proceeded to listen to his older music and ever since then J. Cole has been my favorite rapper and taught me to love rap/hip hop. He always wants to inspire and spread messages through his music. He does not like it when rappers just talk about random things in their music, he speaks and looks for substance. Recently over the past couple of years, he has been expressive on his view of “Black Lives Matter,” talking about the sensitive subject in songs such as “Be Free” and “High for Hours” and his latest album “4 Your Eyes Only.” He can easily rap or talk about sex, drugs and money like most rappers but he chooses to use his music to spread messages and awareness and this is what changed my perspective on rap/hip hop music. In one of his songs, “High for Hours” he mentions how he went to visit now former president Barack Obama to talk about the racial issues facing the nation. The former president proceeds to tell him to keep fighting for the right thing. This just

Cole in the genre of rap/hip hop was a significant moment for me because this was where my perspective of the rap/hip hop industry changed. It showed me that all music in that genre is not the same. There are people out there like J. Cole and many others who use their music to spread messages and awareness about things that they feel must be said. For one thing, the introduction of people, specifically like J. Cole, into my life have a way of storytelling who make music that its relatable among large amounts of people and that can ultimately bring people