Watch the Throne

Reasonable Doubt

The Blueprint²

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If this post or this tweet got you thinking that I dislike J. Cole, you're dead wrong © BiggieI like J. Cole. He's young, talented and he's been featured on many of this site's 'best of' lists and compilations. To me, he's somewhere in between Big Sean, an artist whose appeal - if any - I just can't seem to grasp, and Drake, who has made quite a name for himself by paving his own lane (drawing on inspiration, of course, between Kanye Way and Weezy F. Boulevard). I see J. Cole trying hard and I respect his hustle. But every artist needs some sort of foundation upon which a career can flourish. Drake found that in Lil Wayne (and by extension Birdman - a cunning businessman, not to be underestimated - and the whole Young Money crew). Cole's benefactor/patron is Jay-Z who, quite frankly, is terrible at cultivating and advancing his fellow artists' careers. Check the track record: Memphis Bleek, Amil, Aztek Escobar, Christión, Memphis Bleek, Teairra Mari, Foxy Brown, Rell, Tru Life, Uncle Murda, Memphis Bleek and of course the State Property collective. Oh, and Memphis Bleek. Granted, it wasn't always Jay's job to do this. But it has been since the mid-2000s and, well, he sucks at it.Listening to "Why I Love You" - incidentally one of my favorite tracks off- I can't help but feel a certain way about Jay's stance on this matter. The track takes shots at Beanie Sigel, with Hov offering bittersweet bars: "I tried to teach n****s how to be kings/ And all they ever wanted to be was soldiers/". This point of view flies in the face of a pair of bars from Jay's "Feelin' It", off the classicLP: " If every n***a in your clique is rich, your clique is rugged/ Nobody will fall 'cause everyone will be each other's crutches/". I guess "rugged cliques" are a red flag for Chancleta Hov now...How about the beginning of Jay's first verse on's "Diamond is Forever": "Free, Beans, Memphis where you at n***a?/ (Right here) Snatch Cam and it's a rap/ This here rap belong to us, nobody strong as us, it's a fact/ Hold up I'm just warmin' up, gimme a second to get it back/ Young Chris, Neek Buck, Oschino and Sparks/ Next summer's your summer, tear this motherfucker up/". When was it ever Oschino and Spark's summer? Never. Same for Amil, same for Aztek, same for Foxy, Peedi, Tru Life and so on... It certainly wasn't the case for Memphis Bleek whose most recent album, 2005's(side note: holy sh!t, it's been that long!?), featured a single which even had the word summerit - "Dear Summer". One little problem: the track was by Jay-Z. That's one way to promote an album, I suppose. But it also casts an even greater shadow on Bleek - a shadow that to this day he hasn't managed to escape.It was never Jay's job as an emcee to sustain all of these artists' careers. But it was and is his job as a CEO and music executive. Most strikingly, for me at least, Hov neglects the benefits of having the backing of his one-time partner Dame Dash, arguably hip hop's greatest shit-talking hype man this side of Sean Combs. Sure, Jay had to do his part as the man with the product. But who pushed that product? Dame's stories of his hustling and popping for Roc in the early to mid-90s is prolific. Given all his skill, I doubt that Jay-Z would've blown up if it weren't for Dame. Replace "Jay" and "Dame" with "Biggie" and "Puff" in that sentence and my argument still holds. Same story. I'd love to see Jay bring Dame back into the fold, but that'll never happen. Unless Jay manages to switch up his hustle =, all of the artists directly under him will continue to fail to reach their maximum potential. Competing with your own teammates is never a good look. J. Cole's caught in that trap right now. In the meantime...Wanna try something interesting? Do a Google Images search on J. Cole AND Jay-Z. See how many photos you can find of the two hanging out together. Yep. Keep searching...