Who Is Jermaine Cole's Misconceptions?

Music and society have always been closely related. For years now music has been apart of people’s everyday lives all around the world. Having so many different genres out there, it makes it easy to be appealing to so many different ethnic backgrounds. However, one type of genre in particular has seemed to grab the attention of a younger generation. Rap music has undoubtedly had its utmost impact on African American youth, since many of the performers themselves are African American. An overtly masculine culture dominates rap music and creates gender stereotypes that become abundantly popular to the youthful audience. Three constant themes that are found within the rap culture are encouragement of violence, the misogynistic representation of women, an extreme hatred of homophobia. Each theme plays a detrimental role in the process of defining black masculinity as well as shaping the values, morals, and beliefs that its younger audience adopts after tuning into this “gangster lifestyle”.

The controversial context that is often used in Hip-Hop sets the standard of what it means to be ‘masculine’ as an artist of the culture. Artist who does not display contentious lyrical content in their music may not receive as much notoriety in the industry. In today’s Hip-Hop culture, more ‘conscious’, ‘apathetically masculine’ artist like, J. Cole have become more in popular. Cole’s lyrics are a reflection of his adversities that he has endured during his lifetime. Cole’s inspirations behind his music does not stem from a place of violence or from his ability to accumulate wealth, but from his ability to overcome his hardships as a black man and fulfill his purpose in life.

Many Americans today embrace the culture of hip-hop. Since hip-hop became mainstream its influence has surrounded most Americans. People engage in social issues from the hip-hop culture In his recent work, How Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back, John H. McWhorter have offered harsh critiques of hip-hop for delaying and marring the success of black people. McWhorter asserts hip-hop music “celebrates a ghetto life of unending violence and criminality(10).” He believes hip-hop contributes to the stereotype nearly all Americans maintain in regard to black people. Reflecting on harsh song lyrics McWhorter attempts to strengthen his argument. McWhorter acknowledges not all hip-hop promotes violence in people. He concedes “not all hip-hop is belligerent

When looking for a man from modern pop culture who shares Transcendental traits with Chris McCandless, one name quickly comes to mind: Jermaine Lamarr Cole, better known by his stage name of J Cole. This hip hop artist is united with nature under the idea that God is omnipresent, or everywhere at once. Additionally, Jermaine learned from his past experiences of growing up in a dangerous, deadly city. J Cole invites the future by making music that shares his experiences and helps others who possibly have had the same struggles. Lastly, Jermaine shows nonconformity through his enjoyment in being different and going against how society tells him to be.

Within History, Rap has been considered the “CNN for black people”; what started as a way to express struggles in the ghettos of New York has transformed into one of the most popular genres of music in America. The popularity of rap has allowed many to have their voices heard, created new fashion trends, and even developed popular modern slang used by people throughout the world. The commercialization of rap has resulted in a significant following of the culture in America but also a large number of people who oppose the music. The culture of rap music has a substantial impact on popular culture in America, and by using an open mind and looking past the violence and language, people can better understand the meaning behind rap and the perception that follows it in America today.

In rap music it’s not hard to find the violent lyrics with most of the music speaks about gang violence, shootings, drugs, and more. An example of a song that influences violence is J. Coles song “A Tale of 2 Cities” with lyrics like “Picked up the paper and they say my nigga Eddie caught a body, I'm convinced anybody is a killer, all you gotta do is push 'em to the limps” in this part of the song Cole speaks about how his friend, who isn’t really a person who would commit a crime, murdered somebody; Cole isn’t surprised because he believes everybody is a killer if you push them to their limits. Another example in the song is “They robbin' niggas on the daily can you blame a nigga that ain't never had things? Guess not last night they pulled up on my nigga at the light like ugh, nice watch, run it” the first part of these lyrics Cole justifies the crime of robbing because they have nothing. In the second part Cole states that somebody came up to his friend and robbed him of his watch, on this part the sound of a gun being cocked in the background is heard and is continued with the chorus saying “hands in the air now” (Genius). These lyrics not only promote violence but justify why it was okay to do such crimes. The reasoning behind why artists talk about violence is that it’s a way of telling their story. Namir, a rapper in New York says “People have to realize that rappers are just like any other artist or musician. What makes an artist an artist is his artistic portrayal of his life and how he expresses his life through whatever art form that he does” (PBS). With people growing up in terrible environments and music being a way for them to cope the reasoning for the violent lyrics is the artist trying tell their

Keef is well aware of the trials and tribulations facing the youth who grow up on his gang riddled streets. He is also aware of his claim to stardom, as well as his influence and power, with which should come a greater sense of social responsibility. Imagine being a thirteen year old growing up with a single mother in Compton or Chicago, two communities heavily inflicted with poverty and gang violence. Too quote the website, Teen Ink says "American youth are a target of the marketers of rap and hip-hop. In many low-income areas, some youth, particularly African-American males, are growing up with limited opportunities. Some of them have no important male role model in their lives, so they look up to a rap or hip-hop artist." Without a father figure, American youth is subject to the dignitaries of rap and to those 'higher ups ' behind the scene who target and take advantage of the disadvantaged kids; living in broken homes, without an identity, and desperate to be a part of something. It is so easy to exploit troubled youth because a vast majority of the artists influencing these young kids came from the same city, started from the same projects, and escaped from a similar, hopeless situation.

For many years, the youth have been known for singing along to their favorite song and taking that song as whole and using it as their motto for life. It may seem that sometimes these kids do not know what is being said in the music but this shows that they do know what the lyrics are saying. According to Franklin B. Krohn and Frances L. Suazo in their article “Contemporary Urban Music: Controversial Messages in Hip-Hop and Rap Lyrics,” many teenagers and minority groups view rappers as their spokesmen because of their ability to speak in street language and bluntly express their frustration (Krohn, 1995). Unfortunately, hip hop lyrics usually tend to talk about drugs, sex and violence leading kids to think that everything they hear is okay and that is how they have to live their life. Yet, there are artists out there who take their lyricist skills to give positive lyrics and messages in their music, but these songs are not often played in the mainstream.

The music industry has a huge effect on popular culture and people of today. Rappers especially can tell a story through their music, which is what Keith Cozart (Chief Keef) was hoping to bring awareness to with his rapping about Chicago. Since his career has progressed many younger generations have been informed of the violence and crime occurring there, and his most recent music talks about the dangers of it and the need for change. For older audiences, Spike Lee also brought awareness to the issue in his movie Chi-Raq, a movie about a girlfriend of a Chicago gang-leader who persuades other frustrated women to abstain from sex until their men agree to end the senseless cycle of violence. Most people today spend more time focusing on popular culture than they do on worldly issues, so it is important to make music, television, and cinema a platform for important information. Just as Walter Benjamin predicted, popular culture has become a “democratizing agent of society”. The products produced in popular culture have a major influence in showing us how we should think, feel, and act. Younger audiences are more influenced by Chief Keef considering that his music is considered “low art form”. The lyrics he writes and has younger audiences listen too certainly draws attention to older audiences for its negative messages and meaning. In the crisis of Chicago, any attention is good attention. There’s still so much work to do in order to get Chicago’s homicide and crime rates down. If a wider audience is turning in, hopefully more action will be taken before thousands of other men die from senseless

From these lyrics, the context that is being addressed is the issues that colored individuals face. J.Cole is addressing the judgements that are given to those of color. The lyric, "But police still letting off on niggas in the Ville / claiming that he reached for a gun". This lyric was a reality of what happened when Michael Brown was shot. He was shot while walking home. What he had on him was not a gun, but a bag of skittles. We often seem to memorize these lyrics with their rhythmic flow faster than we memorize our lectures, which is just an extent of the influence that rappers have in our lives. Paul Gilroy addresses how music is a movement. That the main purpose is not just to be catchy but send a message to the audience. To address the

He was the highest paid touring artist of 2015 making around seventeen millions dollars and performing for about 473,961 people in 29 different cities. Jermaine’s impact on modern literature has been heavy. He brought a completely new view at story telling with his lyrics. Many people view him as the best storyteller who raps. His views on society and culture have led other artists to question the things that the government in doing wrongly in today’s world.

That doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s great to see the solidarity and spirit, but there’s something else going on with Cole’s approach. At the end of the day, an artist receives their status and achievements from being just that, an artist. So it's only right that the best way to communicate and get the word all around to the people is by modernizing the song so the kids in this generation realize what's going on around them. In this generation, kids these days doesn’t know what is really go on around them. They don't realize that there's war still going in the United States such as the war on drugs.

Hip-Hop is an extensive and a broad conglomerate of various artistic forms that ultimately originated in the South Bronx and then quickly spread throughout the rest of New York City among African-Americans and other African-American youth mainly from the Caribbean and from Jamaica during the 1970’s. Over the course of decades and recent years, controversy surrounding Hip-Hop and rap music has been the vanguard of the media. From the over hype of the East and West Coast rivalry to the deaths of Tupac, Biggie, and even Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin, it seems that political and broadcasting groups have been injudicious to place essentially the blame on rap and Hip-Hop music for a superficial trend in youth violence.

The golden age of rap back in the mid-1980s and 1990s was the best era at the time. From beats and styles of rap to Tupac, Dr. Dre, NWA, and other MCs had dominated the west coast. An artist whose name Jermaine Lamarr Cole whose better known as “J. Cole” was born January 28, 1985 in the United States Army base in Frankfurt, West Germany and raised in a suburb of Fayetteville, North Carolina where he was then raised by his mother, aunt, and cousin

     Most rap songs that contain violence reflects incidents that occur in today’s society such as the Rodney King incident. “Rap music brings together a tangle of some of the most complex social, cultural, and political issues in contemporary American society.” Rap and hip-hop artists write songs that promote the killing of enemies as well as targeting institutions such as the church, government, and justice system (Ro 145) Most artists relive their own painful experiences over and over again though their music, delaying their own society’s process of recovery . for example, in 1989