J. Cole: "I accept all conversation + criticisms"

hip hop's new daily operation | 6.17.20

Jun 18, 2020

⤴️ Noname + J. Cole, 2016 via @JColedaily0

TheMotto No. 45 addresses J. Cole’s new “Snow On Tha Bluff.” The song title being an allusion to the 2011 film of the same name. The pressure’s been on recently for J. Cole (and Kendrick Lamar) to publicly address the police brutality and racism-fueled times we’re living in. In May, Cole was part of a protest in his hometown of Fayetteville, North Carolina—but his die hard fans demand more. “Snow On Tha Bluff” has shaken up the music world.

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top billin’:

J. Cole @JColeNC

Morning. I stand behind every word of the song that dropped last night.

J. Cole @JColeNC

Right or wrong I can’t say, but I can say it was honest.

J. Cole @JColeNC

Some assume to know who the song is about. That’s fine with me, it’s not my job to tell anybody what to think or feel about the work. I accept all conversation and criticisms. But

J. Cole @JColeNC

Let me use this moment to say this

J. Cole @JColeNC

Follow @noname . I love and honor her as a leader in these times. She has done and is doing the reading and the listening and the learning on the path that she truly believes is the correct one for our people. Meanwhile a nigga like me just be rapping.

J. Cole @JColeNC

I haven’t done a lot of reading and I don’t feel well equipped as a leader in these times. But I do a lot of thinking. And I appreciate her and others like her because they challenge my beliefs and I feel that in these times that’s important.

J. Cole @JColeNC

We may not agree with each other but we gotta be gentle with each other. ✌🏿

Pretty much from the moment “Snow” dropped last night at 9pm Eastern, criticism has been thrown Cole’s way. Many on Twitter and other social media platforms believe that a lot of Cole’s “Snow” lyrics allude to Chicago rapper Noname. This belief seems due to a May tweet from her timeline that has since been deleted.

Over jazzy baseline vibes and plucking guitar sounds, Cole raps:

There's a young lady out there / She way smarter than me / I scrolled through her timeline in these wild times / And I started to read / She mad at these crackers / She mad at these capitalists / Mad at these murder police / She mad at my niggas / She mad at our ignorance / She wear her heart on her sleeve / She mad at the celebrities / Low-key I be thinkin’ she talkin’ ‘bout me / Now I ain’t no dummy to think I’m above criticism / So when I see something that’s valid / I listen / But shit / It’s something about the queen tone that’s botherin’ me.

Cole continues:

Just ‘cause you woke and I’m not / That shit ain’t no reason to talk like you better than me / How you gon’ lead / When you attackin’ the very same niggas / That really do need the shit that you sayin’? / Instead of conveying you holier / Come help get us up to speed / Shit, it’s a reason it took like two hundred years for our ancestors just to get freed / These shackles be lockin’ the mental way more than the physical / I look at freedom like trees / Can’t grow a forest like overnight / Hit the ghetto and slowly start plantin’ your seed /Fuck is the point of you preaching your message / To those that already believe what you believe?”

Cole’s tone is tough to hear at a moment when justice for Breonna Taylor, and the recent death of Oluwaytoyin Salau is so heavy on our minds and hearts. Chance has thoughts ⏬

Chance The Rapper @chancetherapper

Yet another L for men masking patriarchy and gaslighting as contructive criticism.

Chance The Rapper @chancetherapper

They both my peoples but only one of them put out a whole song talking about how the other needs to reconsider their tone and attitude in order to save the world. It’s not constructive and undermines all the work Noname has done. It’s not BWs job to spoon feed us. We grown

Slim da Wit ☔️⚡️ @slim_dewitt

@chancetherapper I know Noname ya peoples, and Cole did NOT read the room before dropping that.. but c’mon bro.

But who is Noname? If you don’t know, Noname’s breakthrough was 2013 with an appearance on “Lost,” from Chance’s celebrated Acid Rap ⏬

In 2018, Noname dropped her debut, Room 25 which was critically acclaimed by most media outlets, including Pitchfork

the album’s intro, “Self” is my favorite. Wish it was longer: “Y’all really thought a bitch couldn’t rap, huh?”

Noname also dropped two strong singles in 2019: “Song 31” and “Song 32”. Both songs received THORO playlist placement at TIDAL. At the end of last year, though, Noname expressed her frustration with performing for predominately white crowds, and an overall lack of support. She’s hinted that her next album, Factory Baby will be her last. Noname has also launched a book club.

A reminder too, of who J. Cole is: in 2014, Cole created “Be Free,” an emotional journey through his grief fueled by the Ferguson, Missouri murder of Michael Brown.

Then Cole took the song up a notch on Late Show with David Letterman with a live performance and a brand new verse. Classic moment for the culture ⏬

“Be Free” still belongs on all DSPs — and I along with others almost got it released. But instead, Cole gave us that new new. As the verses continue to flow, Cole turns his lens more inward. The song’s best moments ⏬

Feel like a slave / That somehow done saved / Enough coins to buy his way up outta slavery / Thinkin’ just maybe / In my pursuit to make life so much better for me and my babies / I done betrayed the very same people / That look at me like I’m some kind of a hero / Because of the zeros that’s next to the commas / But look here / I promise I’m not who you think / Ran into this nigga outside of the store yesterday / He said something that had me like, ‘Wait’ / He was like ‘Cole, ‘preciate what you been doin’, my nigga, that's real’ / But damn, why I feel faker than Snow on Tha Bluff? / Well, maybe ‘cause deep down / I know I ain’t doing enough.

My thoughts? Cole has no malice. But focusing so much on someone else undermines “Snow” and the strong message of his own self-critique. Stakes are high, and expectations are higher. Still the biggest service Cole can continue to provide to us is to be a fearless artist, to continue to make epic music, and to tell his truth. We’ll all be listening.

what more can I say:

I’m laughin’ like Elliott Wilson. — Kendrick Lamar, from “Only Nigga” (leaked/unreleased)

Born day blessings to King Kendrick Lamar. I thank you again for SXSW 2013. Watching the Austin Convention Center crowd so completely engaged in our conversation gave me the confidence to launch CRWN a month later in New York City with Tyler, The Creator. It was my calling, and you helped show me the way.