Hend Elwahwah

Dr. Hall

                G.O.A.T

J.Cole is one of the greatest rapper of ALL time. He is the GOAT! Not many rappers could relate to J.Cole or his music game, especially in the trashy generation we are in. He has recently released a major fire hit called, “Middle Child.” Cole mentions so many topics during this song. The title on its own has a large meaning. Cole expresses himself as the “Middle Child” in the rap game in today’s generation.

Cole mentions in the song, “Everything grows, it’s destined to change, I love you lil’ niggas, I’m glad that you came I hope that you scrape every dollar you can I hope you know money won’t erase the pain.” What he means by that is actually really deep. Nowadays we got rappers like lil pump and every other “Lil” in the rap game being the “shit.” Sadly, that’s what our generations into. Cole knows that those “Lil Niggas” are way up there and he’s not bashing or hating on them. But what he always tries to do is give them a heads up of how this rap game works, or give them some advice about what it’s really about. Cole also speaks about how he’s wishing the good on them and hoping they can make every dollar they could but just a heads up and a warning, MONEY DON’T ERASE THE PAIN! Every person no matter who you are, famous, rich, poor or a regular person, you’re still going to go through obstacles in life, bad or good. Many people start to think “oh if I had this or that this wouldn’t happen,” truly, that isn’t true. It may seem like having money could clear all your problems and make you live your best life but honestly it makes a person sick. It doesn’t erase any pain, it’s like a temporary medicine that heals you for a little and than it starts all over again. The artist J.Cole is important because he is always trying to send a message to his fans.. and haters believe it or not. You can think of it like this, J.Cole is a wake up call for this generation and upcoming artists. Another lyric the artist shared that caught my eye was, “Im dead in the middle of two generations, I’m little bro and big bro all at once.” He’s acknowledging that he’s learned a lot from the legends before him and is looking to help the new artists coming up.          

Cole is trying to show this generation the perspective of today’s hip hop and how he feels he fits in. He definitely feels that working with the older and younger generation in the industry makes him feel like the, “Middle Child.” You can say, something different. He also mentions older generations in the hit. He mentions drake and how his bond with drake is something different in a good positive way. Both the goats in our era. But in my opinion J.Cole is the OG!

While watching J.coles music video for his hit, “Middle Child” I’ve realized a lot. One of the scenes it shows the audience J.cole driving around in a Bentley, for those of you that aren’t into cars, just know that’s an EXPENSIVE car. Real expensive. As he’s driving around in the Bentley with his boys he’s driving into mud and getting the Bentley all dirty with no care in the world about it. He’s trying to send a message to the audience that money don’t buy you happiness and it most definitely doesn’t erase any pain. Another scenery from the video that caught my attention was the ALL female, powerful marching band, setting the perfect beat for the song. That scene was followed by a white women noticing a black women’s baby hairs and right after that immediately scene switches to the white women in the grocery store shopping for a black women’s face. The black face had a red “special” sticker on the packaging. The video showed lots of appropriation of different levels. How styles of black women are only honored when they are not on black women.

In the video he seems to reference the fact that he’s yet to win a Grammy and that he’s awkwardly stuck between two hip hop generations. He also seems to tackle the topic of cultural appropriation of black people and artists. In the beginning scenery, Cole was in the middle of a crowd. To his right was the older generations, he’s in the middle, and to his left was this generation we are in. That’s how cole really feels. Another scenery that really caught my eye and made me stop and think what is cole really trying to say here. This scene was when the whole crowd ended up lying dead in the morgue and they were wearing Louboutin‘s red bottoms, which are overly expensive and one of the most high end shoes. Those red bottoms end up having dirt come out of them which makes you think how fake and ingenuine the wearer is. Ironically, that scene was followed by one of the dead bodies wearing louboutin heels and has a huge tattoo saying, “Loyalty.” Clearly, there isn’t any loyalty there. Stay aware of your surroundings.

All in all, behind one song it can mean so much. Behind every song there’s some deep meaning behind it. Especially with an artist that’s one of the deepest in our generation, since he is the Middle Child in this rap game. My first time listening to this song I stopped and thought to myself, I know J.cole about to hit us with some heat and most definitely trying to send us a message. When it comes to J.Cole you gotta stay woke! Paying close attention to a rapper as great as Cole, it’ll really open your eyes to a lot. I’m really glad I got to write about this song because once it came out I was hoping we got assigned this assignment! A message I hope y’all get from this is money don’t buy you happiness and choose wisely on what you do, who you with, your circle, stay woke!

References:

• https://revolt.tv/stories/2019/01/24/5-takeaways-coles-middle-child-song-0700a6ecf8
• https://www.complex.com/music/2019/01/j-cole-middle-child-5-takeaways/traditional-album-rollout
• https://youtu.be/WILNIXZr2oc

Hend Elwahwah

Dr. Hall

Rough Draft

     Something Different

J.Cole is one of the greatest rapper of ALL time. He is the GOAT! Not many rappers could relate to J.Cole or his music game, especially in the trashy generation we are in. He has recently released a major fire hit called, “Middle Child.” Cole mentions so many topics during this song. The title on its own has a large meaning. Cole expresses himself as the “Middle Child” in the rap game in today’s generation.

   Cole mentions in the song, “Everything grows, it’s destined to change, I love you lil’ niggas, I’m glad that you came I hope that you scrape every dollar you can I hope you know money won’t erase the pain.” What he means by that is actually really deep. Nowadays we got rappers like lil pump and every other “Lil” in the rap game being the “shit.” Sadly, that’s what our generations into. Cole knows that those “Lil Niggas” are way up there and he’s not bashing or hating on them. But what he always tries to do is give them a heads up of how this rap game works, or give them some advice about what it’s really about. Cole also talks about how he’s wishing the good on them and hoping they can make every dollar they could but just a heads up and a warning, MONEY DON’T ERASE THE PAIN! Every person no matter who you are, famous, rich, poor or a regular person. You’re still going to go through it obstacles in life, bad or good. Many people start to think “oh if I had this or that this wouldn’t happen,” truly, that isn’t true. It may seem like having money could clear all your problems and make you live your best life but honestly it makes a person sick. It doesn’t erase any pain, it’s like a temporary medicine that heals you for a little and than it starts all over again.

     Cole is trying to show this generation the perspective of today’s hip hop and how he feels he fits in. He definitely feels that working with the older and younger generation in the industry makes him feel like the, “Middle Child.” You can say, something different. He also mentions older generations in the hit. He mentions drake and how his bond with drake is something different in a good positive way. Both the goats in our era. But in my opinion J.Cole is the OG!

         The author of Moving Beyond Pain made some great points about multiple things. This article speaks about the black female body and the audience of Lemonade. It also spoke about the interpretations of their point of view and of Beyonces point of view. The author often speaks about how she feels like she’s missing the “point.” I found it interesting when the author stated, “From slavery to the present day, black female bodies, clothed and unclothed, have been bought and sold. What makes this commodification different in Lemonade is intent; its purpose is to seduce, celebrate, and delight—to challenge the ongoing present day devaluation and dehumanization of the black female body.” Which has me thinking of what the author is trying to state. Which lead me to the conclusion that she’s trying to relate it back to today’s era and how that’s still an ongoing process that should be stopped. But, i feel like black women are discriminated everyday. The author took Beyonces footage too critical at a point. I feel like Beyonce was just trying to prove a point when she showed the police cars and hurricanes and so on, she  most definitely did not mean to condone any violence. She was just trying to represent a sense of women empowerment.