The book that J Cole called his favourite: “It found me!”
Academics and hip-hop MCs have been arguing for years whether rap is a form of poetry. With its rhyming and interesting cadences, the artform, acapella, can easily be compared to poetry when delivered without a beat. However, many categorise rap without the beat as “Slam Poetry.” However, the likes of J Cole and Kendrick Lamar seem to suggest it isn’t.
Regarding the above, hip-hop and books are sometimes perceived as two ends of the intellectual spectrum. Rap has become music that has become increasingly anti-intellectual over the years, but at its core, hip-hop is about storytelling, and it can relay extremely powerful messages.
Although the stories told are often very specific to the lifestyle and experiences of African Americans in the US and are nonfiction (unlike most books), since its inception, the number of MCs producing conceptual albums has gradually increased.
Whether it’s KRS-One, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, or Black Thought, some of hip-hop’s best lyricists can paint the most vivid of pictures with their music and transport listeners. Many use their verses to address societal issues, especially those relating to racial discrimination and enlighten people with their conscious lyrics. Furthermore, their ingenious use of metaphors and similes to communicate particular messages is breathtaking.
That said, during the early days of his career, the fantastic lyricist J Cole spoke to GQ magazine from his comfortable suite in London’s K-West Hotel, delved into his approach to writing and even unveiled his favourite book of all time.
“I read a book,” he confirmed. “I didn’t read it all the way, but I got enough from it that I needed. It’s called The Artist’s Way, and it’s for artists, any artists: writer, actor, whatever your creative medium is, it’s for blocked artists. So, a year into making the album [Born Sinner], I had all this incredible material flowing out like a floodgate, but it hit a point where it stopped!”
He added, “I don’t know how I found out about this book. It found me! And I read it and one thing it talked about was ‘Three pages a day’ like your ‘Morning pages’. What it wants you to do is when you wake up first thing in the morning, write three pages…that opened up a lot of things!”
However, The Artist’s Way isn’t Cole’s favourite book of all time. While speaking with GQ magazine, when asked about his opinion on the best book of all time, the K.O.D. creator responded, “Eye Of The Hurricane by Rubin Carter!”
Detailing this, he explained, “I never saw the movie with Denzel Washington, but the book [on which it is based] is incredible. It’s about a boxer who is a hometown hero in New Jersey because he went to juvie, then the army, made it big as a pro and then was wrongly accused of a triple murder. It’s kind of inspiring – and it makes me think, ‘Man, what have I really done?'”
The book Cole was referring to in his 2012 interview was Eye of the Hurricane: My Path from Darkness to Freedom by Rubin Carter and Ken Klonsky. The book is a biography. It was turned into a movie starring Denzel Washington in 1999.