The problem with Cole articulated

Narsh · Jan 6, 2016

Jan 6, 2016
I don't hate Cole, just thought this was written very well. Also not sure if it's been posted before so feel free to delete it if it's been talked about before:
http://tumblinerb.com/post/54242835122/why-is-jcole-mediocre

Anonymous asked: Why is JCole mediocre?

Well to provide a little context - I wrote that subtweet in response to a mess of folks on my twitter timeline who were taking great pleasure in the fact that Cole’s record was coming so close to matching the sales of Kanye’s Yeezus. This is sort of understandable - Kanye’s a natural heel and he works pretty hard to invoke the wrath of the masses. But come the f--- on thinking people, for better or worse he made a very ambitious album and has a bunch of squares banging acid squelches and metallic shard bursts while scratching their heads. It might only be subversive as a means to amplify Kanye’s ego, but at least it’s subversive. J. Cole made a regular a--- mediocre rap record that only appeals to and appeases the mediocre people of the world.

And I do mean mediocre in the most literal sense. I don’t think Cole’s garbage or anything. Dude can rap okay as far as rapping humans go. If he were in a cipher on a corner or in a dorm room or at an open mic or whatever he’d surely evoke the “oh cool, rapping" response that such activities exist to evoke. That old rap rap raprap / rap ra rap rap approach can go a long way in certain social situations. But great rappers and rap stars have historically been expected to transcend that.

I mean this guy is supposed to be a great lyricist, a compelling writer, The Nas Of Our Time but nobody seems to notice that he failed to absorb the most (only?) compelling aspect of Nas’ style - that project window vision. Dude is wholly incapable of seeing outside of himself. Literally every idea on Born Sinner is I / me / my on some elementary school essay s---. His subjects exist only as one dimensional props for him to hang his own personality and narratives on.

The “Art Of Storytelling" beat jack on “Land Of The Snakes" is perfect because it opens Cole up to such a bold contrast against the Outkast original. Sasha Thumper was a fully formed human, one with hopes and fears and slumber parties. She even exits the scene and lives an entire life outside of Andre’s verse. The women of “Snakes” and elsewhere on BS are set pieces. They have no names, no stories, no personalities, no specific characteristics. It’s just “this b----,“ “some hoes” and endless “she"s. Sometimes they talk at him like wamp wamp wamp wamp but that’s where it stops. I’m sure someone could extract an intense gender politics thinkpiece out of this but it’s not just women either. He does the same thing with his family, with physical spaces, even with his own heroes (On “Let Nas Down" Cole makes no specific case for Nas’ talents or appeal, he just talks about shaking dude’s hand and hanging posters on the wall.) It’s flat narcissism and it’s definitely not good writing. Good writing requires a panoramic worldview.

And I can hear you little frutflies spitting out cheetoh dust onto your keyboard and filling my ask box with baahh but Chief Keef and Migos can write? questions. No, of course not. Those guys f---ing s--- at traditional rhyme writing when compared to Cole’s ample mediocrity. But their goals are very different. They redirect the effort that they would’ve put into pure lyricism elsewhere - into delivery, into structure, into intensity, into flows, into adlibs, into hooks, into sonics. This is perfectly fine. Writing (“lyricism”) isn’t everything in rap. I don’t even think it’s the most important thing. But if an artist is going to make it the focal point of their work - which is what Cole clearly aims to do - then they should be doing it better than he does. I mean not to go all old head on you but if someone is not at least striving to be as vivid as Nas or as emotive as Scarface or as imaginative as Posdnuos or as bugged out as Cam’ron then I’d be more comfortable if they were to just give up on writing entirely and make a thousand kewl grunt noises on their record.

I don’t know, maybe this is a generational thing - you young people sure are in love with yourselves and maybe you need stars who are equally self-obsessed - but as a writer it’s hard for me to sit back and call someone a good writer if their s--- is as insular and shallow as Cole’s. Wale suffers from this sort of narcissism and lightweight laziness too and you could pretty easily sub his middling a--- new album into any paragraph here. These guys are stuck in their own heads and bouncing around cliches that they cribbed from played out Mount Rushmore rap legends like Nas and Jay. They see nothing beyond the mirror and do very little within this narrow perspective. They’re prisoners of their own realities and of the laws of language and it destroys me to think that anyone would consider them the great lyricists of our time. But hey most people don’t pay very much attention to words at all anymore so whatever.
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just saw the date on this, so im sure you guys have deff seen this

whoops lol

Uncle Luke · Jan 6, 2016

Jan 6, 2016
Don't care

Kold · Jan 6, 2016

Jan 6, 2016
Lol. This article again.

There is nothing new to be said when it comes to criticizing Cole. Thread is a waste of time.

reD10S · Jan 6, 2016

Jan 6, 2016

JimmyBucketsNC said

Don't care
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reD10S · Jan 6, 2016

Jan 6, 2016

Kold said

Lol. This article again.

There is nothing new to be said when it comes to criticizing Cole. Thread is a waste of time.
Click to expand...

reD10S · Jan 6, 2016

Jan 6, 2016
Out

Narsh · Jan 6, 2016

Jan 6, 2016
like i said, i didnt see it was two years old. funny how it all still applies to FHD though, lol

reD10S · Jan 6, 2016

Jan 6, 2016

Narsh said

like i said, i didnt see it was two years old. funny how it all still applies to FHD though, lol
Click to expand...

JimmyBucketsNC said

Don't care
Click to expand...

Kold said

Lol. This article again.

There is nothing new to be said when it comes to criticizing Cole. Thread is a waste of time.
Click to expand...

reD10S said

Out
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Narsh · Jan 6, 2016

Jan 6, 2016
i get it, you guys already know everything wrong with cole (including stuff he apparently hasnt improved upon since the start of his career) and you dont care

my bad lol

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx · Jan 6, 2016

Jan 6, 2016
Didn't read this cause fuq dat but if it touches on the fact that Cole is completely unable to put together an album without at least 50% of it being filler then i agree

reD10S · Jan 6, 2016

Jan 6, 2016

Narsh said

i get it, you guys already know everything wrong with cole (including stuff he apparently hasnt improved upon since the start of his career) and you dont care

my bad lol
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Thank you. Was that too hard?

Music · Jan 8, 2016

Jan 8, 2016

Kold said

Lol. This article again.

There is nothing new to be said when it comes to criticizing Cole. Thread is a waste of time.
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