"Your one listen reviews are fucking up hip hop"- J. Cole. Inspired by these words I wish to celebrate and truly try to empathize with artistry and creative process. After upwards of 15 listens through, we start this blog with Kill Our Demons, or King Overdose, or Kids on Drugs. Coles latest effort is nothing short of all 3, all intertwined into 1.
After a short run up to K.O.D, including a surprise listening session in New York, then London, a track list with you guessed it: 0 features and a trailer, fans were treated to a life lesson disguised as a rap album.
To give you just a little more buildup to the process:
"Cole says he sinks into a zone and is writing at least a song a day. By song six, he realizes there's something going on. He has never written like this before. 'God was just giving it to me, like, "Here n*gga, I'll write it for you, just take the credit,"' he said. After the first two weeks [of recording], Cole thought to himself, 'Yoooo I'ma come back from [touring in] Australia, drop this shit and blow everybody away.' When Cole gets back, he mixes it but something doesn't feel right. He said if he was being honest with himself, he knew three songs weren't up to par. If he could make three more songs up to par, he would have 'a classic.' So Cole says he took his time and perfected the album. It's a beautiful album." Per Ryan Payan of DJ Booth.com
It is a beautiful album. A decade defined by vices, society has swayed towards chasing highs and ignoring lows.
urges Jermaine on the Intro. Perfectly segueing into a process that has successfully blinded us from mindfulness. K.O.D. A beat that would fill parties, a flow stuck in your head, a first verse with a self-assured braggadocio sing along, but a perspective that invites a theme of self-deprivation. "How come you won't get a few features? I think you should? How 'bout I don't?". J COLE WENT DOUBLE PLATINUM WITH NO FEATURES. You gotta love how Cole mentions what has so rightly defined his last 3 albums and created a forever lasting string of memes. Sometimes writing from what seems a different point of view, (Expanding on his 4 Your Eyez Only tactic) Jermaine combines the evils of the pharmaceutical companies with our tendencies to mask our inner demons.
"This here's what you call a flip, ten keys from a quarter brick Bentley from his mama's whip, K.O.D., he hard as shit"
he announces, which I interpret as the perspective of our King of Overdoses: ones that facilitate our Kids on Drugs. Lastly as the song fades he lists our anesthetics.
"Power, greed
Money, Molly, weed
Percs, Xannys, lean, fame"
Choose wisely right? But preluding to PHOTOGRAPH he proclaims the strongest drug of them all. Love.
There is no denying we live in a different age of love. Social media pushes us far less social. Instagram pronounces what beauty is. Tinder makes us judge a book by its cover. We have become servants to likes rather than relationships. And Cole knows this.
“Fell in love through a photograph
I don't even know your name
Wonder if you'd follow back
I hope to see you one day”
There's that IG model again stealing your heart and society urging you to compare her doctored pictures to what beauty is. Cole has always been a proponent of the REAL rather than the PERSPECTIVE. And in Photograph he perfectly scripts a common distortion of love keeping us from being grateful of the people we have right in front of us.
THE CUTOFF spotlights Coles only 'guest feature. KillEdward, inspired by Jermaine’s stepfather, seems as an alter-ego of his, a different view who can allow Cole to expand his message and empathize to a larger audience.
“Give me drink, give me dope Bottom line, I can't cope If I die, I don't know,”
admits KillEdward. So quick we are to numb our pain, without confronting it or even bringing it to acknowledgement. Even when bliss and mindfulness have occurred for us, " I know heaven is a mind state, I've been a couple times". we neglect to analyze the process that brought us to that state and instead remain "stuck in our ways, I keep falling down."
"There are many ways to deal with this pain , Choose Wisely." We then choose money. ATM. Or Addicted To Money as he confirmed on twitter. "Count it up count it up count it, can't take it when you die but you can't live without it, " rhymes Cole, underscoring the morality of societies biggest value. One of the more radio friendly hits on the album, we see a very interesting tactic from Jermaine. It seems satirical in nature, or at least influenced. A hook that outsiders will love, with flows and rhyme patterns as if its following the trends of today’s rap. BUT within the coating of the song, he's actually peaking at money’s hold on all of us. It's genius. Wrap a song in a catchy and flashy shell that at first listen may sound alike with rap’s current direction. But when you actually look inside and listen beyond, its penetrating, its insightful and discussion-provoking.
Next up: Drugs. The crescendo of "I'm feelin alive" after "I'm poppin a pill" on MOTIV8 is both euphonious and one of the strongest examples of auditory imagery I've heard in a rap song. It's the common deception that drugs will make everything better and Cole paints a picture of someone unlike his current self. Again, it’s influenced if not satirical in nature . It's not scornful, he's not directly ridiculing the practice of drugs but the lyrics are clearly unsupportive and foreshadow a new theme: medication is not sustainable.
In some of the latter songs we see different vices combining, as is always common, in music and life alike. On KEVIN'S HEART we incorporate a battle between love and temptation. A reflection of Kevin Hart's recent infidelity as an example for a larger and more recurring theme. There is a normality to distract or push aside guilty feelings of cheating and disloyalty as we create a different version of ourselves. Cole depicts what seems like life on the road for a rapper/entertainer surrounded by this trend.
“All a ni* know is how to fuck a good thing up
Run from the pain, sip lean, smoke tree up”**
We haven't matured enough to respect the beauty and magnitude of love. Society has placed an importance and popularity on hook ups, side-chicks, and remaining invulnerable.
"Love get confused in the mind of a child, Cause love wouldn't lie like I lie and its wild." Playing on the double entendre of "lie" it exemplifies the current hookup culture.
But in this process we become someone, something else. A shell of our true self, scapegoating us from actions we know are wrong, becoming senseless in the process.
"Can't see myself when I look in the mirror," repeats Jermaine. Why have we let this line of thinking become so desirable?
BRACKETS is defined by its second verse. Cole steers from accepting distractions from pain in favor of a narrative on failures of those above us. Placing rightful blame Cole questions the use of his tax dollars, and governments unfair or unclear distribution of such.
He posts the following question: As a millionaire if I am paying this much in taxes, how come I am not seeing development in the black community?
“ I guess they say my dollars supposed to build roads and schools
But my ni**** barely graduate, they ain't got the tools
Maybe 'cause the tax dollars that I make sure I send
Get spent hirin' some teachers that don't look like them”
He touches on the common practice of doctoring history books in favor of the elite. Teaching youth and even more specifically black youth, the false heroics of ‘prominent’ white men that preceded us.
“One thing about the men that's controlling the pen
That write history, they always seem to white-out they sins”
To bring this enlightening lecture to a conclusion, Cole follows the route of his allocated tax dollar on a deadly route. Corrupt congressman lobbied by weapons manufactures create violent circles in poorer black communities. A mother heads to her innocent child's funeral as a result. But on the way, she realizes she has to pay her taxes. The cycle continues.
Revisiting addiction and coping mechanisms, ONCE AN ADDICT narrates Cole's relationship with his mother who he describes as recovering from depression. The pain from false love has steered her into a pit in which she seems to have trouble escaping. Alarming her son when he was home and calling him late at night when he was attending college. He admits that it angered him at times when he should have been more supportive. But it's a scarring moment when the ones you look up to hit lows that make you question their immortality.
“And then I'd have to end up seein' my hero on ground zero”
Again there are many ways to deal with pain, choose wisely.
"Feels so right to let things go, Don't think twice, this is me". KillEdward, returns with this declaration.
Why look inwards for relief when you can ignore. Ignorance is bliss in the end isn't it? Wrong. Cole writes a letter to his hometown on FRIENDS, bringing light to quite possibly his biggest declaration on KOD. He first circulates on all that can be blamed to cause addiction. The system, poverty circles, politicians, the media's representation of black America. The list is too long Cole admits and he would need "20 CD's" to blame them all. He sympathizes and strays from judgement with those that fall victim to addiction. He understands that it can help but also points to the gateway to the "deep end." Cole pleads that he wants to see his brothers "comfortable in their own skin," and explains that will never happen until we stop running away. The potential solution he confesses may not seem the coolest, but is the most effective in the long-term.
The declaration:
rings as prophetic Jermaine returns.
KOD's supposed outro, WINDOW PAIN, serves as an appropriate conclusion on the multi-meaning album title. Here we find Jermaine reflecting on his path to current day, platinum star holding. What has he sacrificed? Did he lose himself on the way? He attempts to educate his peers, in which he admits he thinks **“it goes in one ear and out the other.” ** Again, as he tries to enlighten, Cole warns of the effect you can have on a child's psyche. You can create their suffering, and that's what he says affects him the most. Yet again referencing the amazing little girl we heard on 'Vile Mentality', Jermaine puts pain in perspective and cries that there is so much more that we can do, to help ourselves and our seeds.
“If you was my sister then I would kiss you and tell you that I'm sorry for the pain you had to live through
I know I'm blessed because yo' stress is realer than anything I done been through”
Priorities change, we have the ability to grow and I think Window Pain serves as a subtle reminder of that. As well as a reminder of our responsibility to empower our youth and provide strong role models. This little girl experienced the unthinkable and yet still chooses to keep her faith. We have the power within us, don’t let society change that as we grow up. **"There's many ways to deal with this pain, CHOOSE WISELY “88
“1985 I arrived.” The most talked about song on the album. 'J. Cole dissed who??' Headlines can be misleading as always though. I don't see it as a diss. Cole is playing the wise man, spitting knowledge and sitting us down for a lesson on the mortality of the rap game and life in general. First he does prelude that you have to give this next generation the benefit of the doubt and let them grow. As Cole admits, 'money, pussy, parties' he was rapping the same things.
“Come here lil' man, let me talk with ya.” Is the perfect way to open his response to disses shelled out by soundcloud rappers and Instagram trolls. It's Uncle Cole sitting them down and passing life lessons.
“But have you ever thought about your impact?”
Today's rap wave is heavily synonymous with drug use, recklessness, face tattoos etc. Cole aims to point out how this can paint black people in a harmful stereotype when the need is contrary.
“These white kids love that you don't give a fuck
'Cause that's exactly what's expected when your skin black”
This wave will eventually end as they do. Longevity disappears when you ride what's popular, instead of creating your own, letting originality create your path. Sooner or later their crowds will dissipate.
“I'm just tellin' you what's probably gon' happen when you rappin'
'Bout the type of shit you rappin' 'bout
It's a faster route to the bottom
I wish you good luck
I'm hoping for your sake that you ain't dumb as you look”
It's not your typical 'diss track', and thus I don't classify it as such. It's enlightenment, a tutorial mixed in with a few quotable and laughable punch lines.
“Just remember what I told you when your shit flop
In five years you gon' be on Love & Hip-Hop,”
KOD was needed. Not just for music. Not just for culture. But to shed light on the true power of the mind. The true intention for our own power. Our potential and happiness is within. And if we search outwards, relying on things such as drugs, sex, money, love, and power, we will never reach our potential. Poetry over some of Coles finest production yet, it's satirical at times. Mirroring today's ad-libs on songs like Kevin's Heart, and at times flows that could be mistaken as today's wave. But it only serves to Cole's claims that he'll be around forever. He can take trends, bend and flip them to make his own lane. Adding true content both political and spiritual, creating an antidote piece of art retrospective of our generations addictions all in one. From social media's take on love, to our reliance on medication we have unfortunately slowly created false realities. Cole just wants to see us comfortable in our own skin again. The people's champ is back, still yet to truly disappoint.
