"Falling victim to this...society, where hoes gaining notoriety, and if I ain't rocking chains these kids won't admire me" -Still the realist shit I've heard to this date
J Cole is a great artist, definitely my favorite with childish gambino and Kanye but you're overrating him and his lines so hard... that's not even that deep
Do you guys realize what he said in that second verse? The amount of references he put into that, whether it be written or not, i would put that second verse as a top 10 verse cole has ever done. I mean "this is colewar/ soviet/ no vietnam". the historical reference
I'll give you a tip on how to spot real freestyles. When his mouth barely catches up with his flow and his though pattern, he hums but nothing gets provided as ammo hence the little mouth slur. Once in the flow your mind will and emotions/soul provides you with material quite brilliant at the time.
People arguing whether or not this is a freestyle or written, don't you people realize these people rap and write basically every day for hours on end? That they've practiced to the point where they know everything that rhymes? So yeah, these verses may be previously thought of or written in some form, but I would still consider this a freestyle because I doubt he prepared what to say specifically for this rap. He basically has a storage of lines in his mind he can pull out at any time. Regardless, one of the best recorded frees of all time
+Peter Cross Also, anyone who thinks Cole is not capable of freestyling at this level can suck a dick, this dude is talented and puts in work and has been putting in work for a decade+ now of course he's capable
You can tell his mind is racing trying to work out the lyrics before he say it. I love it! theres a true art to freestyling in my opinion because you have to think, rap, and stay on beat. amazing.
+Clark Kent it's not written. I'm a artist myself. Look at his body language he's not relaxed. When u spit something written u don't look that tense. When it's written u barley even think that hard. He's tense because he's thinking at a faster pace than normal. It's hard to do. But trust me this is off top. He's just amazing at the shit that it sounds effortless. But when u look at his face u can't tell he's coming of top. Trust me I've been in plenty of rap battles and cole is coming of top.
1:55 that right there is why I love rap. The consonants in the rhymes create a rhythm that works realllllly well on top of the beat, almost like a second percussion
Not taking anything away from it, but it isn't a freestyle man. You can't be so dense as to not realize that. Freestyle has a different definition nowadays. It doesn't mean off the top of the head. He isn't making up these lyrics as he goes along. It is all written. Freestyle these days means "without form, having no concise point". Although at least in my opinion, these days a freestyle is just throwaway verses, or at the very best small chunks of future or old material combined into a cohesive whole. I mean you can't really blame the artists. With the way social media works these days it is literally next to impossible to produce "freestyles" at the frequency they would have to, with all the radio shows and other internet venues they are featured on. Long story short: I'm not disrespecting what any artist spits on the microphone for our enjoyment. But to call it a true "freestyle" is simply wrong, because it isn't that at all.
Whether or not it was "created in the moment", this shows talent and you would have to be very ignorant at best to ignore it. But please understand that when a person steps up to the booth, they usually have no idea what beat/instrumental will be played. To simply retract the lines and recite them with an "effortless" flow shows a great deal of talent not even the greats can do.
2014 forest hills drive was a coo album but there were tracks on that album that i didnt like, like st tropez hello G.O.M.D he doesnt have to do tracks like that.
Bass Red tf u mean?!?!? G.O.M.D had content. But yo dumass was probably to stupid n ignorant to hear the message!! Hello also had content, he's allowed to paint pics of what ever story he wants to tell... St tropez was also amazing, but I wouldn't expect you or Brian to get the shit. Cuz all you do is listen to the music, you'd be surprised if you looked at his lyrics. FOH
"coz you black and rap, you'll never do numbers like Adele" How true is that, Adele with "Hello" got like 400m views, This here 2yrs and still about 1.5m views... #ColeTruth
+Sarah Hays Is there something wrong with that? Adelle is an amazing artist and so is Cole. Adelles music consists of love songs, with some pop elements. That has a way bigger audience than "lyrical spiritual miracle cyclical mystical" hardcore rap. Kind-of like complaining that owning a restaurant will make you less money than owning a law firm. Common sense.
He just knows how to write in song form while doing it in freestyle. You can tell it's a freestyle if you can freestyle like this. It's a gift if you were blessed with it you were. That's why song writers exist.
This is one of the best freestyles in HipHop history. I have come back to this freestyle time and time again. The amount of creativity in this masterpiece is astounding. The words cut deep like a sword. The flow is perfect and the timing is unmatched.
I don't get why people are so fixated on trying to compare J Cole and Kendrick Lamar and then call one trash to boost the other one up. How about we just respect both these artists as two of the talented emcees we have in our generation, huh? I mean, why do we have the crab/jealous nigga mentality to everything in life and society? I mean, I'm a huge fan of both artists; I'm a slightly bigger fan of Cole (due to me listening to him longer out of the two), but I also think that Kendrick makes slightly better music. But never do I sit up and try and tear one of them down just to make the other look the better; that's the crab/jealous nigga mentality that really ruins the rap genre and the hip hop culture in general. Let's just respect both men and appreciate their crafts.
As a old school rap fan, this is the BEST freestyle any new era rapper has put out, kendrick is good people sleep on them and gambino and logic are also good. But cole? Amazing./
+k den I would agree that Lupe would be in the discussion but I think he's referring to the "new school rappers" and Lupe is a little bit older although he is a genius too
@Ajisdarkskin cole was the first artist jay z signed to roc nation lmao. cole left in 2013 to make his own label because hov kept pressuring him to make hits he wasn’t comfortable making.
And that ladies and gents was a true Free Style, mixing thoughts with rhyming words (sure some was preconceived) and they actually make sense. Cole is a lyricist, a true MC, last of a dying breed.
that happens because it wasnt his goal, Cole's goal this time around was strictly real shit nothing more nothing less. thats why he didnt have features or radio songs
"Check the album credits, that's produced and written by/none other than yours truly..." Very few rappers or artists in general can own a bar like this. Pure genius!
