Five J Cole songs that confirmed him as a lyrical genius
Even from his early days of rapping over beats from Jay-Z, Nas and Kanye West, it was clear J Cole had something special about him. Through his early mixtapes such as The Come Up and The Warm Up to studio albums 2014 Forest Hills Drive and 4 Your Eyez Only, Cole has always shown maturity far older than his age.
The storytelling tracks showcase Cole at his best, whether he raps from the perspective of a pregnant woman or speaks to the daughter of a friend who’s passed away. What makes it even more impressive is that he largely produces his music on his own.
Cole has already cemented his name in hip-hop history, but we can only hope that he continues to release music of a high calibre far beyond the long-awaited The Fall Off.
Below, take a listen to five songs that confirmed J Cole as a lyrical genius.
J Cole’s five best lyrical songs:
‘Can’t Cry’
J Cole showed signs of excellence as a rookie in his debut mixtape, The Come Up, in 2007. Aside from rapping over a few known beats, Cole produced most of the project himself, with ‘Can’t Cry’ one of the standout moments.
On the track, he touches on police brutality over a soulful beat sampling Millie Jackson. He raps, “Plus the cops harassing us/ Every week be blasting us, on accident, or so they claim/ Reporters sympathising like they truly know the pain/ They killed her only son/ Now she wanna blow her brains out/ Change the channel man, I can’t watch this shit.”
‘Premeditated Murder’
Friday Night Lights highlight ‘Premeditated Murder’ finds J Cole rapping about his life-changing after signing a deal with with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. The lyrics question whether his personality is switching up along with the money and fame while having no choice but to adapt to his new lifestyle.
Cole raps, “You see I promised that I’d never change/ But that was way before I made the dough and met the game/ Say hello to Miss Thang, I forgot yo name, she yellow/ And even white women want a n-gga, Othello.”
‘Lost Ones’
J Cole once called ‘Lost Ones’ one of his favourite songs due to the emotional nature of the record. The lyrics tell the story of a young girl becoming pregnant, with his verses being told from the perspective of the man, the woman and someone completely neutral.
The idea for the song came to Cole through a situation going on with a close friend at the time, resulting in one of the best moments on his debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story in 2011.
‘Love Yourz’
Speak to any J Cole fan, and they’ll tell you just how much ‘Love Yourz’ means to them. Taken from 2014 Forest Hills Drive, a contender for Cole’s best album, the song finds the North Carolina rapper reflecting on how far he’s come, explaining how love and happiness trump material things.
He raps on the song, “It’s beauty in the struggle, ugliness in the success/ Hear my words and listen to my signal of distress/ I grew up in the city and know sometimes we had less/ Compared to some my n-ggas down the block, man, we were blessed.”
‘4 Your Eyez Only’
On ‘4 Your Eyez Only’, the title track from his 2016 album, Cole speaks to his late friend James McMillian, Jr’s newborn daughter. The first three verses see Cole rapping from the perspective of his friend, who died at the age of 22, with the final verse coming from his own point of view.
It’s Cole at his storytelling best, telling the little girl just how much her father loved her in the form of a tribute that will live on forever.