Let's talk about how J. Cole is fading into irrelevancy

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Budda

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Enchanted said:
I don't understand why he would be comfortable being 3rd. I'm not asking him to be in the tabloids or fightin paparazzi, he doesn't need to. You said he is only concerned with music so his music should be phenomenal and it just isn't. If you're going to put all of your effort into one area you better be amazing at that shyt.

Also, isn't Kendrick also focusing only on the music? I don't see him in any tabloids or gossip shyt either. He got to where he is now off of raps.
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Hes comfortable because he is just trying to make good music, not be the most popular. If the 90's wasn't so lyrics focused, someone like Nas who used to go missing after his album drop would be in the same position also, in fact during the 90's and early 00's Nas often played 3,4 in popularity wise, DMX, Jay Z, Ja were all at one time bigger than him, include Em, Big and Pac in that list as well, would you call him irrelevant as well?
 
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Candor said:
That's part of it, but that's not my issue with him. He's not an engaging personality and the best selling rappers have always had a combination of talent + personality. The rappers who sell the most are always because people buy into their whole persona, not just the music. It's why people say "it's not what you say, it's how you say it." Cole had the underdog angle on his first album, and on this one he had people coming out to get the album they expected the first time plus the hype of going head to head win Kanye who alienated much of his fanbase with Yeezus (I didn't get it). But other than that, it's like he's a non-entity as far as his influence on the game. He doesn't show up on features like Kendrick and Drake. He's never on any big records. He's an insulated as his music is (the way he produces everything himself). You guys are always way too prone to think that people thinking that someone isn't engaging wants gimmicks. It's music, and it's about entertainment first and foremost, but it's hard to deny that Cole does a poor job of promoting his album past the initial hype. Him outselling Kanye had more to do with Kanye than J. Cole.

Crooked Smile was presented in the wrong package, and thus, it's not as big as it should have been. He himself said that song was meant for radio. So if you make a radio record and it doesn't blow up....what does that say...

This album sold faster than GKMC and won't even get close in sales. His and Kendrick's fa bases overlap but one guy managed to stay on everybody's tongue this year with an album that dropped last year and one guy hasn't. J. Cole constantly says he feels he's the best rapper out and he feels overlooked, so go out there and consistently body shyt and show and prove. He's right there, but makes the wrong choices. That is why he is getting overlooked at all these award shows despite putting out one of the 4 best albums of the year. Cole will be around awhile though. I just feel like he won't ever achieve the success he probably should. Maybe, he doesn't want to.
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Hie is just like Nas then!

Maybe the early comparisons were right...
 
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nikkas are too obsessed with popularity these days, who gives a fukk if Drake and Kendrick are considered the two most popular, in the late 90's it was a Jay and DMX, yet when it came to talking about skills Nas was a lot of the time put above them because people realized there was a difference between who was the most popular and who was the most skilled. J Cole doesn't need the attention Drake has, if he continues to make better music, which he has in his last release, then thats all that should matter to us as Rap fans, who cares if we don't hear his songs on the radio everyday or see him on the tv everyday or on the social media sites, is Nas on the radio everyday, is he on the TV everyday? Its only in the last 3 years in his 20 year+ career that we have truly seen him active, he has always been an insular type of person, same thing with Rakim, but people still hold these two as two of the greatest mcs of all time, nikkas move like bytches, trying to judge nikkas personalities and shyt, expecting everyone to be a clown like Kanye West!
 
Danie84

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I was rooting for the guy, but Born Sinner was the straw that broke the camel's back:huhldup:
 
Mikael Blowpiff

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These Nas comparisons...nah. Even on "Let Nas Down" where he was talking about "You Owe Me", Nas had a shytload of classic songs under his belt at the time. On his last album he had both "Undying Love", which is probably one of the best storytelling tracks ever and "Hate Me Now" which still goes hard as fukk even today. You can't spit struggle bars about your impeccable fart game and how chicks daddies still wanna spank them and write surface-level stories about how bytch A and Ho X are mad that you didn't call and think you have the pedigree to go "Bu-bu-bu you made 'You Owe Me' doe!"

A 300C is a decent car with a good engine and a roomy interior but don't compare it to a Mulsanne brehs.
 
dubsmith_nz

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Enchanted said:
Forgot about all the Nas comparisons?
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Nas was rarely ever the top dog with repeat top 10 singles, he just spits introspective music trying to kick knowledge that was more street oriented than commercial. Throughout his career he was generally 4th or 5th in terms of commercial success while maintaining with his core fan base. Sounds like Cole to me.
 
CELL

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Say whatever the fukk you like about Cole but he's gonna be around longer than Drake. He's turned me from a doubter to a listener and I fukk with him (pause) a lot.

Quote me on this and suck a dikk you haters :pacspit:
 
Tetris v2.0

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He'll be fine and still another few albums in the tank so long as he keeps in with the Roc Nation lifestyle brand.

Its weird, cause he has the "lyrical" element, but I feel like his fanbase exists somewhere between women and Jay-Z fans. He doesnt have the die-hard hip-hoppers on deck like Kendrick. Its nice-guy rap. He has talent but his music is just very uncompelling
 
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