Jermaine Lamarr Cole

aka 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, there is parallelism where J Cole himself and the white cop are both brushing their teeth. The reason this is significant is that it shows how all people are the same. Regardless of a person’s skin color, background, family; all of us humans are equal. The horrible and sad reality of this day in age is that people are being labeled because of who they are, and what they look like. The overall idea of the song is basically what it is like to be someone who is different, even though that does not really exist. Racism is something that this world has been facing for too long, and it is powerful messages and lyrics like these that put people’s minds in the place they should be; everyone is the same. We are all buried under the ground, we are all made from the dirt, regardless of religious beliefs, we are the same. A quote from J Cole himself about the meaning of this song is that people should “ embrace your flaws because people will always remind you of them.”

 

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

MY EMULATION

Seeing you go through all your struggles alone is hard for me too.

All the things I want to say to help you, but don’t want to seem pushy.

I want to be the one to have made your day or to be the one to put a smile on your face.

you have been through so much, and it is time you stop dealing with this alone.

If I can be the one to get you to smile and feel blessed and confident, then I honestly will feel like I can do anything.

There is really nothing I wouldn’t do to see you happy because let’s face it, you deserve to be smiling your whole life.

Don’t let anything get in the way of you being treated the way you deserve to be treated.

I just want to see you smile.

Advice to writers

Cozz said during his writing drills with Cole:

“[Practice consisted of] writing drills. He was giving me tips to stay sharp. He was telling me to start off by writing anything to get the brain flowing, and it didn’t have to rhyme. That helped more than I thought it would. Then, he was like, ‘Take 10 minutes and rhyme with one phrase, like ‘cut-the-grass.’ Do 16 bars with just that rhyme.”

“Then another 10 minutes, ‘Try to write a 16 to somebody’s beat in their style.’ So take somebody’s beat, a song that’s already out, by say Busta Rhymes, and do it in his flow. It was just to keep our brains sharp. After that, making a song was nothing. It was like a warm-up before working out. It’s the same shit for your brain.”

Bibliography

https://www.thisisinsider.com/hidden-meanings-behind-j-coles-middle-child-video-explained-2019-2

https://genius.com/a/cozz-was-assigned-writing-drills-by-j-cole-while-recording-his-new-album-effected

https://www.biography.com/musician/j-cole

https://www.goalcast.com/2018/06/12/20-motivational-j-colequotes

/https://answersafrica.com/j-cole-married-wife-daughter-mom-brother.html