Guest Blogger: Emilee K1

J. Cole is, in a good way a mixture of hip-hop and r&b. A lot of people will say he is more of a hip-hop artist, but then he will throw in a few r&b tracks on his album and it opens your eyes to what he can really do. His album “Cole World: The Sideline Story” is his first actual album. He has had a lot of mix tapes but this was his debut album. And for his first album it is kind of a mixture of everything, and this is where a lot of people start to argue about the quality of his album. There are some songs that are upbeat and easy listening, but then there are others that are very serious and talk about things that most artists wouldn’t really care to write about, like abortion “Lost Ones”, family affairs “Never Told” and confused love “Nobody’s Perfect”. If you listen, actually listen to his music he will rap a lot about his life. What happened to him while he was growing up, and his experiences. And this is where a lot of people will connect with him and call him “the realest rapper alive”. Recently when his album was released it created a lot of conspiracy about how he sounds a lot like other rappers, such as Drake, Jay-Z and Kanye West. I think that he sounds like his own person just telling his story. But others just want to compare him to other artists because he is new. Like in one of his songs called “In the Morning” he raps with Drake, and J. Cole tries to bring out his R&B side and sing with Drake. Some people liked it or hated it, I loved it. Also the song he did with Jay-Z called “Mr. Nice Watch” sounds a lot like a track off of Jay-Z’s album with Kanye West “Watch the Throne”, because it is upbeat, and throws in a little bit of a dubstep mixture, which there is a lot in Jay-Z’s album. But I think that it’s ok, because Jay-Z discovered J. Cole, so of course Jay-Z’s sound will be influenced in a little part of J. Cole’s starting out. The one song that stuck out to me the most on his album was “Nobody’s Perfect” with Missy Elliot. It was memorable to me because it was the first time that he did a track with a female vocalist. And it was a nice change from him usually by himself. The hook of the song, sung by Missy is what is so great, “Nobody's perfect, uh, nobody's perfect, ay... ay, But you're perfect for me”. Her voice was just perfect for this song and the feelings that she brought with it, she makes it feel like she is talking to you. J. Cole has been around for a while now, but his album was just recently released on September 27, 2011. And it got a lot of mixed feedback. For all his fans that waited it was like a “FINALLY!!” moment, but then people who didn’t really know who he was to begin with, they just thought that his album was so-so. He has had a lot of mix tapes such as “Friday Night Lights” and “The Warm Up”. These were his openers, where he rapped about his life to get people to know what he went through and to connect with him on a different level other than just music. Some critics thought that his mix tapes were stronger than his actual album, because his album was all over the place with too many different styles of music in one place. I disagree 100%. Yes there may have been some songs that I didn’t like as well as others, but for the most part I loved his album and was glad that he is finally getting the recognition that he deserves. I love J. Cole and no one’s opinion or mean comments will change how I feel about him and his music. He is absolutely with your time and money, because he is so different from so many artists out right now. Yet a lot of people still don’t really know who he is. And now is your chance to find out for yourself! He is so talented and is just starting out. J. Cole has a long career ahead of him and I will be right here waiting to see what his next move will be.