friday night lights

I'm too much a fan of raw talent to get sucked in by the commercialization of hip hop.  I can do without the wigs, the chains and countless dances that look like they belong on playgrounds and not on streets where sneakers hang from telephone wires. All I need to know is if you can spit 16 bars in a cypher with your voice bouncing off camera phones and black hoodies.  That being said, I first heard about J. Cole from @danigirlbx.  She played a couple tracks for me from his mixtape appropriately titled the Warm Up.  I admitted then that he was decent, more than decent actually.  His vivid storytelling felt like he had painted a conversation on the inside of my palms.  Then a particular green eyed friend of mine introduced me to my favorite track, Dreams featuring Brandon Hines [who I'm a FAN of and have been since @danigirlbx brought him into my life 4 years ago, thank God for her].  Now, Dreams? Well that song has some lyrical content that could be described as romantic scripture.

Oh my God, I'm walking towards her
My mind screaming stop but my legs keep walking forward
My heartbeat racing and my hands keep shaking
Say something, you shy motherf.cker, she's waiting...


His voice has a subtle hunger laced with hard work, not to mention that he's talking about feelings we've all felt.  I mean, I'm sure every guy has felt like that and every girl wants a guy to feel like that about her.  Even still, with his growing skill and undeniable talent, he graduated from St. John's University in New York City, magna cum laude.  I can respect a man with dreams that doesn't neglect reality.  Recently, he signed with Roc Nation and released his mixtape, Friday Night Lights.  Before I get into the depth of the work itself, let me just say that, it is a deliberate compilation of talent, skill and performance.  Hearing him spit, I can literally envision him in the studio or on the stage soaking up the intensity of the moment. I can imagine his eyebrows furrowed and his lips pursed with the bones of his neck snapping to the bass of the beat, I mean I can see it but what's more important is that I can feel it.  Before I could read the reviews on Friday Nights Lights, whether from entertainment professionals or the population I'm a part of, I had to set time aside to really listen.  After four days of listening to it on repeat, I think I just found my favorite song but I'm apprehensive to say so because every song has a line that has stopped me in tracks to run back and rewind it.  But for the sake of the argument, I will say that Looking for Trouble featuring Pusha T, Kanye West, Cyhi the Prynce and Big Sean might take the spot and I couldn't be happier that he added it as a bonus.  First of all, it is very rare that with all those features, everyone will show up to work with their A game, however J. Cole is a walking prodigy and apparently miracles happen when prodigies are around.  Each verse is lined with wit, hunger and a pure sense of rage which is appropriate for the track.  In telling you a few lines from each artist, I don't want to dissect the track but I do want to highlight the fact that each artist matched each other's talent.  It's an equal distribution of greatness.

Pusha T
Shoveling that devil's angels up they noses
never let jail turn my Shyne into Moses

Kanye West
It's the misogyny
bad bitches massaging me
so please don't judge me, ugh, for the following
fat b.tches swallowing, skinny b.tches modeling...
the devil stay testing
'cause when you chase the pussy, it's a sin
but if it falls in your lap, it's a blessing

Cyhi the Prynce
Boy, we looking for trouble 
maybe if we wasn't black then we wouldn't have struggled...
but don't get it confused when I rap these mellow flows
'cause all my Titos got bricks like a yellow road

Big Sean [his flow is JUST as impressive as what he's saying]
F.ck a hotel, my n.gga we rent houses
my n.gga, we rent houses
so many wedding rings lost in them couches...
I leave females in my sheets and all my feelings in a rubber...
'Ye invited me a seat to sit at the throne
so now I'm snapping like yo' ass just finished a poem
does he sound like 'Ye, Jay or Drizzy Drake?
meanwhile, I'm chilling with all these n.ggas, counting all this money you ain't
consider yourself lucky to see a legend before the prime
a killer before the crime, a big before the dime
greet me with a middle finger when you see me
it's cool, 'cause I can see yo' ass form this side of the tv motherf.cker

J. Cole [it's a sign of bravery and trust that he put himself at the end of this song & I honestly don't think it was a 'save the best for last' move as much as it is a 'the entire song is great and I'm confident you will ride out till the end]
down played me to downgrade me like they don't notice son
your shoes too big too fill? I can barely squeeze my toes in 'em 
this the rap Moses, scratch that, Mary and Joseph's son...
never say I'm better than Hov, but I'm the closest one
yo' b.tch invited me inside her, ain't I supposed to come?
they say you are what you eat and I still ain't pussy
f.ck it, everybody can get it
when you're this hot, everybody's a critic...
went from quarter to broke to half past rich...
what you been praying for? what you been screaming bout?
ironic, you been sleeping on the one that you been dreaming bout


AND THAT WASN'T EVEN THE ENTIRE SONG!  The track itself was well written and like the album, the beat, the instruments, the MUSIC, the literal music was well composed.  The arrangement was delicate and intricate to the mood of his lyricism.  I can honestly say that no matter where I am or what I'm doing, the entire mixtape pulls me into a place created for his music.  Friday Night Lights is not only a piece of work to enjoy but also created to inspire.  He is not only doing what he loves, but he did what he had to do first.  Hard work is not a compromise, it's a habit.