In an NPR interview conducted by an “emotional” Angie Martinez on Power 105.1, J. Cole spoke about the state of race relations in Hip Hop in light of his Late Show with David Letterman performance Wednesday.
“This is that time for the switch in Hip Hop, “ J. Cole says in the Power 105.1 interview. “It’s the system’s fault. There comes a time when the system realizes, ‘I can sell this White person a lot easier.’ Hip Hop is like completely White.”
North Carolina native J. Cole, himself half-Black and half-White, said the track “Fire Squad,” off his latest album 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was not intended to be a diss to White rappers such as Eminem.
“It’s silly how much of an Eminem fan I am,” J. Cole says. “There’s a select topnotch group I worship. Eminem’s the top of the list. That part of the song was just an observation.”
J. Cole says that the lyric about Iggy Azalea was meant to point out what he sees as capitalist overreaches into Hip Hop culture.
“While silly nigga argue over who gon’ snatch the crown,” J. Cole raps on “Fire Squad.” “Look around my nigga, White people have snatched the sound / This year I’ll be probably go to the awards dappered down / Watch Iggy win a Grammy as I try to crack a smile.”
J. Cole says that his lyrics where meant to point out an observation that White people started to sound Black on tracks in order to sell records. Cole says not to believe the headlines.
“That headline is not the truth,” J. Cole says. “It is a perspective that someone took and they made the most enticing headline for you so they could make money. The news ain’t set up to inform you. It’s set up to make money.”
J. Cole says that his passion to deeply think about America. He thinks the current system has duped people.
“We’ve been pimped, and we pimping ourselves,” J. Cole says. “We all sell outs.”
J. Cole’s album, which dropped this week, is projected to sell a quarter million copies its first week in stores.
He didn’t even say that. DX whoring out there just for clicks. SMH
A bunch of racist white people run this site which is why they cant get clicks anymore.
Hope this album is what we can expect from now on with Cole. When people listen to this album for years to come, it’ll remind us of the current state of affairs today. Albums like this don’t come around often.
I don’t usually mess with J Cole, but these comments are making me a fan. I love when people speak out against these devils
This dude makes comments about white artists in his songs yet is half white and was raise by the white side of his family(his moms). Dude is a self hater
I think “Firing Squad” is a dope ass track but I only liked about four tracks off this album. Cole’s got a lot of sappy lame ass material. As for this race quote, he sounds ignorant while trying to sound intelligent and reflective. Who the fuck care’s if one race or another is participating in a genre of music? Who the fuck care’s if you invented something? If people like a product they’re gonna participate in that product’s evolution at some point. First of all he can’t even really call it hip-hop, he’s talking rap, he’s talking pop rap, some Eminem “Monster” shit. Or that busy, repetitive southern rap, some Soulja Boy shit. Hip-hop is the old school sound that nobody really listens to or makes no more. “Firing Squad” is a hip-hop beat. But as for rap, if you’re gonna say it’s all white, then it’s all black too. Cuz both are listening to that pop rap R&B club shit all day every day. If you make good music, the masses are gonna listen or emulate no matter what.
I’m just playing
It’s NOT ‘black’ or ‘white’, great music is either ‘good’ or ‘bad’! Should have NOTHIN’ to do with the person being ‘old’ or ‘young’, or ‘asian’, ‘latino’, ‘african american’ or ‘caucasian’! Showing influence or love for another is the HIGHEST FORM of Flattery & praise! Just because caucasians invented basketball shouldn’t stop an african american from playin it, lovin’ it & adding their own touch to it!
The guy doing the interview is trying too hard to be deep, he’s corny and annoying.
handful of white people in hip hop have become successful. so now hip hop is all white? also, its harder to market white people in hip hop. not easier. be more creative and youll be more successful too.
Well the black population don’t support their black artist, do you know why because everything a black artist drops a new cd, we don’t buy, we download it. For example, young Jeezy’s seen it all is a hot ass album but yet he opened with 100,000 copies first week. Do you know why, because black people download his shit and don’t support him,But if Eminem drop a new Cd, he damn near goes platinum the first week. Do you know why,because White people take care of their own, blacks don’t!!!
good point
You are stupid. Eminem is the only white rapper who sells. Jeezy sold more than Iggy on the first week.
hypocrite – guys half white
lol 2 white “rappers” other than Eminem get multiplat singles and niggas wanna act like the world is ending… news flash. blacks are still moving more records in hip-hop than whites overall. theres only like 6 white artists eating off hip-hop.
your not seeing the clear picture. 2 whites rappers out of nowhere are suddenly big and they’re not even that good, not close to Eminem level good and now they are winning grammys? I can understand Eminem cause he was actually good. yeah there are blacks stilling making records but whos gonna get promoted more? good black rapper or a average white rapper?
prime example kendrick and mackelmore.
I think em is moving more units than the whole genre put together?
That’s why we get these watered down mc’s in the lime light because they’re not actually saying anything which threatens the status quo
heres another big picture. many ppl in every race like trash shit..black ppl love chief keef, soulja boy ect..white ppl iggy and macklemore ect ect
kendrick is the top rapper out now. hes black
eminem is there when he drops but he deserves it.
action bronson is prob the best white rapper out and he doesnt get anywhere near kendrick lamar or jayz or ludacris looks or jcole
.
so if black ppl let rap get ‘white washed’ bc a white girl with a fake accent came into the rap game and went gold lol didnt even go platinum somehow has ‘white privelage’. then that says more about black ppl than anything
and there are ALOT of dope white rappers out now more bad then good but they cant seem to find that ‘white privelage’ and blow up. iggy is the product of all rappers going indy and the machine needing oil aka money. so they generated it.
And he’s half-white just like Logic’s btch azz. What a fcking douche bag.
Its funny he says that when ALL HIS FANS ARE WHITE. His style rap is borin as hell. The only people who bump J Cole live in the suburbs.
What a sneaky a$$ coward, he’s not brave enough to tackle the white male rapper but he feels strong enough to tackle the white female Rapper, and then he runs to the whites going on white Media begging white kids to buy his music.
I guess he is scared of Iggy too..
LOOOOOOL WTF HOW DESPERATE ARE YOU PEOPLE FOR A HEADLINE?
ANGIE’S INTERVIEW WAS ON POWER105.1 AND THE NPR INTERVIEW WAS WITH FRANNIE KELLY AND ALI SHAHEED MUHAMMAD (HEARD OF HIM HHDX? PART OF A LEGENDARY HIPHOP GROUP? DO YOU GUYS EVEN CARE ABOUT HIPHOP?)
isn’t this nigga half white?
yes LOL
Why do people give a f**ck who wins the grammys or who makes the most money ? They aint gonna give you shit so why dose it matter ? 99% of the time the ones that win the grammys are shit. Personally I think Kanye,jay z, mackelmore, iggy, nicky all suck. The list goes on but I think just listen to the shit you wanna listen to and stop bitching.
Isnt this bitch half white????
he’s German tooo
Cracker smile 😀
Canibus & Schoolboy Q are also born in Germany on US Army bases
J Cole makes a whiter “rap” album than a group of KKK members. He wanna talk shit about how he black when he’s half GERMAN. Yes, German… the ultimate white. The white that hates other whites because they are not as white as they are. SMH.
it so easy to hate u evil mofos tho
HEAR YE HEAR YE!J Cole speaks on race agaaaaaaaain!zzzzzzzzzzzz…You heard cooooorectly!HEAR YE HEAR YE!The Miley Cyrus of rap!HEAR YE HEAR YE!
Just make music and stfu!!Turning all malcolm x all of the sudden!fuck out of here!Just continue makin shitty music and blame it on white artists when your floooooopin!Floppy Cole!Instead of talkin about white and black he should be rappin about how flops dont sell in the industry,Suits Floppy cole good!
Cole is cool!
listen to your own music, youre clearly clueless to what hip hop is about.
George don’t be a sensitive girl! no-one implied whites, or any race should should be banned from anything! He’s simply stating what i feel is a truth. You don’t like it? well fuck ya quite frankly. Crying everytime someone makes a socially-related statement like ”Wah wah wah, stop telling the truth & talking about injustices!”…that’s what you sound like. Focus your energy on something else if you can’t handle hearing the real.
HOHOHO GERORGE IS GETTIN ANGRY HERE!So what does he imply with “bitin the style”?You didnt have one good argument other than callin me a girl and sensitive and off the topic remarks.What i mean is who the FUCK cares about iggy winnin a ama award?Shes NOOOOOT hiphop!Shes much more a miley cyrus than a hip hop artist.Why cant you decide for yourself whos hip hop instead of any BULLSHIT awardshow?Eminem didnt even turn up for his oscar.And that socalled social statement has been said a hundred billion times before only this time he mentioned em in it,thats what make the difference.So im not sure what he means?If hes angry about iggy winnin an award then why did he mention em in the same breath?Two different worlds there.Eminem has done MUUUUUCH more for hiphop than J fuckin Cole anyway.Just a punkrapper whos trying to be nas.Hes good,but not great.I just dont understand where hes going with this.YOU JUST GOT COSTANZAD r!!
PREACH THAT SHIT COLE!!Thats EXACTLY why i boooooooooombed BIG TIME!Think its a refreshing way of tryin to get “the black pass” cole!Say hi to franz and gunther for me!
Amazing interview,, listened to the hour long interview before bed, cole world. All love
get you in the mood for some late night homo jacking? me too.
Cole is right…what happends in the music industry is called white privilege….like blacks are not trust worthy to do buisness with…..you cant deny that,its a fact..
the reason why whites take everything over from Blues,rock and roll and now hip hop..
and then blacks are left out because whites not representing us black people nomore,…but hey we still got gangsta rap so we can kill eachother with it,…realy sad..
Does it really matter if he’s half white? Does it really matter at all? I really don’t think so. I could understand the calls of hypocrisy if J. Cole’s MESSAGE has changed throughout his career, which I really don’t think it has to be honest. Rather, now that he has become more popular he’s expanded and elaborated on subjects that may have only been slightly touched on before. Who cares if he’s half white? He’s bringing up some serious issues and problems in this interview. Maybe we need to stop worrying and nitpicking at petty things and look at the bigger picture. He’s right. We’re all getting played, and we’ll continue to get played if we only focus on the bullshit.
Best comment so far! The notion that he’s not allowed to speak on anything involving white ppl because he’s ‘half-white’ is hilarious to me. There are ‘fully-white’ ppl that are saying the same thing that he is, so, I don’t know where that comes from. I thought black people were supposed to be the so-called ‘sensitive’ ones.
It’s 2014. People should stop blaming skin color for their problems. Hiphop is white? then what? back then, hip hop was black, and Eminem took it all over. No excuses.
LOL don’t be silly george. Slim shady is where he is today because of a black guy known as Dr Dre…since you wanna play the ‘tit-for-tat’ game. Without his skill & vision to maximise em’s potential, only ppl in detroit would’ve known who eminem is.
So what if it was white? Doesn’t matter if you make good music, which clearly isn’t the case with Cole. Big K.R.I.T. > n+1 generic artists > Cole.
Kill yourself, dweeb…
cole really sucks the most over rated artist of the decade and its only 2014 still 6 years to go
dude faking it for the black power movement but he got a white mother and brother lol
That’s the problem, nobody is ‘black enough’ for you mothafuckas unless they’re robbing, killing, wearing, gold teeth, walking 4 pit bulls at the same time, and beating their woman. When a good brotha comes along trying to spread love and drop a little knowledge, out come all the crabs in the barrel trying to shit on him. J. Cole is one of the only MCs that actually cares about the state of the culture and the state of America, and not just money and hoes. I’m ridin’ with the young homey.
wow this is the one of the most ignorant comments i ever heard. brother, you better wake up. you are black (no matter if you are mixed or not) in this country. wow this generation of hip hop fans are so immature and lost. and i know your first reaction will be to insult me but remember this, you are the one looking foolish insult a faceless person on the internet, trying to be tough. be mature and educate yourself
Well he has a point, as it now stands Biracial Blacks are the token mouthpiece of Black America, but they win regardless of what side they paly to. I’ve see more Biracial black men and women given opportunities to speak on black issues in the media, in entertainment they’re considered versatile. Lets just call a spade a spade its not the same for them as it is for non biracial blacks.
see my thing is what he saying has little to no value..sure you got iggy ok shes poppin but shes rly the 1st white girl to go in..and you got macklemore whos got original music and then you got eminem who deserves it. and mac miller
then you got mgk, rittz, few other white rappers who dont benefit in this culture of music and profit.
kendrick lamar is the num 1 raper on the radio, so is cole and when jayz.
id recommend that black people support their black artist like white people do eminem. but that wont happen you blame the system but dont do wh
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ppl fail to realize..iggy is a fad just like chief keef, or soulja boy or lil b..everyone knows their trash but they make a few cathcy hooks get their 15 mins of fame..but iggys white so everyone in rap will make a big deal about it. SHE HASNT EVEN GONE GOLD YET, so i fail to see the ‘white privelage’ shes recieving except shes all over the tv and internet but thats not translating into dollars if anything the machine will lose off the MILLIONS spent to market her.
see..cole mentions how the only black rappers on the radio are making kill em songs but wont call them out on it for making it and following the trend in the first place..or that their own race doesnt support their own artists like whites to eminem, not to sound racist not my intent.
but calls out white people and for the most part (eminem, macklemore and timberlake) make original, in their own lane music,regardless if you like it or not.. where as iggy is obv a copy cat wanna be. you can tell by her rap voice and interview voice.
my point is music in general is a pie anyone can eat from..there are alot of black country singers, few heavy metal and pop and white people are going anywhere bc they dont care music is for everyone and wont move away from the genre just bc another race joined in lol
Its a stupid observation Cole makes anyway.Nothing new and groundbreaking,He knows how to promote thats all.Just mention Em in a negative observation and your still sellin under 300!!HAHAHA!Now go crack a fake smile under the grammys cause you aint winnin for DAAAAAAMN SURE!!You just got COSTANZAD!!
@george contanza, clearly you didn’t listen to the song. i did and he doesn’t take a shot at Eminem. I think you are a young head because if you knew the game, you would see what he was saying is true. white people have snatched the sound and i guarantee Iggy will WIN a grammy next year. when a white person does something, it’s a big deal. you have to educate yourself before making comments like this…and i know your first reaction will be to insult me. remember, those who react like that are immature and have no kind of integrity so please be better than that and be mature.
Agree
Haha im probably older than you so calm down im not going all immature on you!Snatched the sound?I just dont know what he means by that.Isnt music a universal thing?Should they stick to country?Should whites make hiphop with another sound?Isnt that what iggy is doing?Shes not makin the typical black hiphop sound,its bearly hiphop in my opinion.And many blacks have won the grammy`s before so i dont know what hes talkin about.Maybe he is pissed of that HE lost,but thats a whole other story.And then he mentions em in the same “social statement”.The guy have been in hiphop 15 years longer than Cole makin good music for all races to enjoy,he is probably the solar reason hiphop got so big.Probably the biggest genre in the musicworld,but NO his bitin the style cause he is white.Its not like black people took patent on hip hop,but it sounds like he thinks it.And no he didnt diss eminem,but i just think its a stupid observation.Thought we passed that shit.Fortunatly not every rapper thinks like that,like the legends in the game.Like Kool g rap,Jay Z,Ghost,Rakim,Andre 3000 and so on.Im not sure,but i think you just GOT COSTANZAD!!
THIS HEADLINE IS BULLSHIT, THAT IS NOT WHAT HE SAID. YOU HAVE TO DO BETTER THAN THAT HHDX. SMH
White people can’t steal black sound if they tried. The white race so called stole rock n roll/blues and it sounds nothing like real black rock n roll/blues music.
Headlines like this is exactly what he addressed in the interview; gg HHDX
Sooo….why are you making corny pop-rap to feed the white girls? You had a chance to make a difference; you came up under Canibus’ influence! A real chance to bridge the gap between lyricism and mainstream…instead you forgot your roots and dance around for the white man like the rest of them.
nigga please. shut the fuck up. there’s a handful of white rap artist. so what. I didn’t know music had a color. besides bitch, YOU’RE FUCKING WHITE! you’re as white as you are black.
LOL shut the fuck up little man. There are fully caucasian ppl who are echoing the same sentiments as he is you muppet! How do u figure because he has white in him, he’s not allowed to speak on this issue? So spare me with this ‘defend anything white ppl do’ nonsense. He’s simply making an observation, NOT saying ”white ppl shoudn’t be doing this”. BTW a lot of dark skinned black ppl have white in their gene-pool, since slave owners liked to rape the black women. LOL @ some of these dark-skinned brothers acting like they’re ‘pure’.
I’m a Hip Hop head and white MC’s are not the problem in Hip Hop, as long as they are MC’s.
The biggest problem in Hip Hop are the black imbeciles like Chief Keef, lil Druk, Lil Wayne, Nicki, 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, etc.
They are an embarrassment and have nothing to do with Hip Hop.
Just like Nas said Hip Hop is DEAD, died long time ago.
Niggaz in China and Europe are keeping it more Hip Hop than we are in America.
Who sign’s these wack rappers. Old rich white men. Wack black artist are put to the forefront.
@anon- oh u mean to tell me old rich white men signed young thug and lil wayne and twist n all them too ym? No thtd be baby and mack maine
How about who put iggy on? Thats be ti and asap
Oh u mean 2chainz??? Thats be kayne west
Aka all black ppl who realized they would nake money
Don’t try to play games the people who signed those people were signed by old rich white men. Garbage in garbage out. They also had to have a cosign anyway. So if the label is pushing a certain agenda pushing ignorant black artist to the forefront would work out. Hip hop needs balance. The american public have been purposely dumbed down.
Well, Cole’s almost completely white, he’s half way there
People are upset that white people can rap while not tresting the insane 5 % nation sect believes that a big headed black scientist created white people on the Greek island of Patmos 6000 years ago…
White rappers get on here and think just because they are MIMICKING the afro-cuban sound or pan african patterns of our speech they can embody hip hop and thats the white lie that was possible to steal the Blues, jazz, and that theft of trying to steal hip hop. For anyone to get on here and call out black rappers as un-authentic when African blood flows thru their veins is an insult, those drums, percussions, horns and other elements are in the soul and spirit of a people from africa and its just not “sounding” like a black person and saying other countries are doing hip hop better than African american blacks, its the ESSENCE of a cultural, not just white people again based on the post here saying some current black artist are not ” black enough” and this is the systemic racism that i have read from white artist comments on here, its a insult
You talk about systemic racism and you are racist yourself. While I agree that some white rappers (and some black rappers for that matter) are unoriginal and steal sounds from other popular artists, there are many that bring new sound and bring new original energy to the game. Think about Eminem and the impact he has had on the genre. You act as though every black rapper is good and every white rapper is bad, which is obviously not true.
noone can STEAL any genre of music..just like other music genres white people liked it, are smarter so ended up making the genre better and in turn black ppl realized they cant compete in their own sport kinda like whites devolving in basketball who was originally all white.
black rappers started off w a message, eminem came became the goat, black people formed retarded trap music and are burying their own out .
what a racist piece of shit. in 2014 EVERY race in hiphop is eating its not even fuckin close to white. whos poppin whos white,eminem, iggy and macklemore 2 years ago..
i hear black rappers on the radio 30 times a fuckin hour..
jcole just lost all my support was about to cop his album but fuck his album or even listening to it.
like J. Cole will go bankrupt without your support LMFAO U might as well stop listening to Hip Hop since I guarantee you almost every black rapper thinks just like him.
@oh..guess what its 2014 fuck black rappers. Most suck and cant deliver my fiz for hot raps so if thats how black ppl rly feel ok..ill go but eminem, rittz, logic, mayhem, ect ect and kendrick too lol
I dnt need to listen to black racist rap lmao
#whitesinrapareheretostay!!
Also mac miller and mgk r nice too 🙂 fuck a j cole
And who cares if he goes broke idc bout his $$ sit.
lol logic is black u take another L
I don’t know man. My closest white friends are really into old rap and people like the Clipse. Most of my black friends love that new shit that has no substance. If he’s talking about actual rappers..thats a diff story. I hate seeing hoody allen and those guys selling.
yes. The problem is not the artists. The problem is the SONG MAKING. Thats mostly production and all at this point. We know guys out there can spit. We just don’t hear good songs anymore. Thats on the industry for pushing this awful sound, producers, etc.
@asada. It was never or will ever be a matter of whites making anything better. Yes it gets to a point where we can’t compete at stuff we started, but it has nothing to do with white ppl making anything better, nd everything to do with a power structure that can engulf a culture simply b/c they control the finances. He with the money has the power to not only change the rules, but also determine who wins. How did whites make Jazz,Blue(which was sped up nd called RockNRoll), RnB, or Hip Hop,please explain how white ppl actually made any of those genures better..
Yeah real white. BAKING SODA I GOT BAKING SODA….HIMINA HIMINA HUNNA AN DIS ONLY BEGNINGINGGGGG. ALL I KNOW IS YAYOOO.. LMAO
The guys half white….what is it with people who are mixed to pick one side rather than embracing who they are….everybody on Obama because hes the firt black president when hes not, hes mixed, j.cole mixed, mariah cary mixed, benzino (who warred with em and pulled the race card) mixed……at the end of the day you can blame pop. culture all you want for creating a side two pick when at the end of the day deep down most people are racist, even against who they are themselves
thats why these stupid comments these entertainers say today are 90% bullshit within themselves
It has to do with history. Historically when the White slave masters were raping Black women and creating mixed babies, the mixed kids didn’t have a choice. Their fathers never excepted them as fully White and gave them access to White privilege, so they had to stay with the Black side of the family. This is why quasi White boys like Drake can get away with using the N word because they have been historically accepted as Black.
Claiming mixed or acknowledging you’re half white doesn’t stop white people from discriminating against you. They claim black because they’re treated as such. Years ago white people made up rules that said if you have even a little black in you, you’re considered black. So don’t blame biracial people for identifying with blacks and not white.
Lmaooooooo here comes the irrelevant slavery rape convo for no reason..
The leeches are always talking about “songs suck” this, and music is wack “that” but got a computer and smart device full of music they LIKE and STOLE… FOH! Bum ass fans not supporting good music and always taking the “free” route is why Hip Hop and music in general is in a bad place business wise! There has always been wack music. Now people are using that as an excuse not to buy the good music!
I was saying the same thing about Iggy and Eminem the other day. Eminem’s my favourite rapper though so he gets awat with it lol I’m white too and it is cringy to see people acting a different race lol
Are you aware of what you are actually saying? If so I think you should take a look at culture as a whole and not just a little section of musical culture. Then you will see your comments are fundamentally racist against both sets of black and white people.
What headline is he talking about??
Swear I’ve been hating J Cole for a hot minute but after listening to this track I can respect him
So is your mum shit head.
J Cole is a real dude and they did take that line out of context but at the same time if we really want equality why do people still choose to see color at times ? When it is convenient they point out color but at the same time want equality. It won’t work that way. We have been tricked to be separated when we are all the same. Don’t believe the hype and love everybody and every race and then we are strong as one! C’mon people love thy neighbor! peace love unity and having fun. #ZULUNATION Hip hop and you don’t stop!
You can’t dismiss our 500 year old horror story in the western hemisphere it just comes to a point where we need to be separated and be independent of the slave masters children.
So you are fine with the fact that those who got sold to white slave masters were already slaves by black slave masters? Or does that not matter? It’s like saying all German people are racist to Jewish people and all Jewish people hate Germans. Ridiculous, grow the fuck up and stop pitying yourself. Your responsible for your own actions and nothing else, certainly not those that happened centuries ago or even decades.
Nigga retarded. I listen to black country and ehite ppl never made them not feel welcome bc their black n white ppl would never let us “steal” country bc one other raced persons in it lmaoo weak minded shit by light skin rappers again
If you’re gonna call names, give a real reason why you called out names. If you call out iKKKy Azaelea, call her out because she is just some slut trying to get rich who has her lyrics written by that federal snitch TI. If you’re gonna call out eminem, give a reason why he is bad for hip hop. Fuck it, J Cole isn’t an MC anyway, he is just an R & B singer who can’t sing.
DING DING!Yuo are speaking the TRUTH!
I for one am really happy he doesn’t call Iggy out for being a “slut” because that has nothing to do with what he’s talking about and is disgustingly sexist. He doesn’t think Eminem is bad at hip-hop … HAS ANYONE ACTUALLY LISTENED TO THE INTERVIEW? Goddamn, he called out names because these are the biggest white names in hip-hop, because he is observing a shift in the faces fronting the hip-hop industry, from those of the oppressed peoples who created the art form and need it to battle discrimination to people who are more easily marketable and not necessarily more talented (Iggy). There IS something scary about this shift and the lack of respect white people joining the industry have for its roots and its function. Iggy is using little black boys as props in her video and cashing checks instead of in any way recognizing how easy it was for her to make it in this industry in comparison to women of color rappers.
French Montana is the real life version of Ali G
Two actual big mainstream white rappers and it’s completely white? I think I can only come up with ten white people who make hip-hop. What does it mean anyway? How can he get away with racist comments and be applauded for them? Some people have very small minds. He is supposed to be a concious rapper too? Those neurons are certainly not producing a great deal in that cranium.
jealousy
there are a TON of white rappers, but as far as mainstream, you’re right, there’s not that many
Can you elaborate on his “racist comments”?
He was making an observation.
Think before you call others out for small minds.
Objectively his statements seems to be racist, I mean why else point it out as a problem?! Oh I’m just making a observation, sure buddy sure, that excuse may work in kindergarten.
Imagine a white rapper or singer for that matter, stating something similar, that person would be crucified!
“It is a perspective that someone took and they made the most enticing headline for you so they could make money. The news ain’t set up to inform you. It’s set up to make money.” J. Cole is doing the exact same thing, he is blaming the news media for! Stating hip hop is completely white, is ridiculous, however it’s the most enticing statement he could come up with on the subject, to get more exposure, and ultimately make more money. Most rappers, J. Cole in this case ain’t no exception, ain’t really set up to inform you. They are set up to make money. Don’t let ignorant & self absorbed rappers inform you. Rappers suffering from the overconfidence effect, who don’t even possess just a tad knowledge of self, but yet trying to teach others, is pathetic at best!
YOU CANNOT BE RACIST AGAINST WHITE PEOPLE. This is simply because you just can’t oppress the oppressor. There is no “reverse racism” (please see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw_mRaIHb-M), women can’t be sexist, queer people cannot oppress straight people. Oppression requires systematic discrimination – white people do not experience systematic discrimination for being white because they can’t, because they built the system and it continually works in their favor. This doesn’t mean white people/artists don’t have to work hard, don’t experience their own hardships. But to believe that they experience racism is fucking ridiculous.
OF COURSE YOU CAN,YOU STUPID WTF?!JOIN ME!WE MUST CLEANSE THE WORLD!
Erm, that is not true. Musical taste is preference and hopefully that preference is based on content and not appearance.
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I mean gotdamn! This mothafucka is White his damn self.
Hip-HOP has no color. Hip-POP is white.
Word!
that observaion is legit, but nevertheless unnecessary. especially coming from cole. open your eyes bruh. white people arent the problem, capitalism is
Exactly!
“It is a perspective that someone took and they made the most enticing headline for you so they could make money. The news ain’t set up to inform you. It’s set up to make money.”
J. Cole is doing the exact same thing, he is blaming the news media for!
Stating hip hop is completely white, is ridiculous, however it’s the most enticing statement he could come up with on the subject, to get more exposure, and ultimately make more money. Most rappers, J. Cole in this case ain’t no exception, ain’t really set up to inform you. They are set up to make money.
Don’t let ignorant & self absorbed rappers inform you. Rappers suffering from the overconfidence effect, who don’t even possess just a tad knowledge of self, but yet trying to teach others, is pathetic at best!
Do all these people commenting on how Cole fails to address capitalism even listen to the interview? He completely implicates himself in wanting to make money in the way that capitalism makes all people concerned with hustling and making money! In this interview Cole is stepping towards opening up people’s minds to how some of this systematic shit works. Yes, perhaps he is at the beginning of his intellectual journey and can use some more reading up/knowledge himself, but the fact that he is using his platform to raise challenging questions and give his fans something new to think about is RARE and EXCITING!
Where exactly did I comment on ‘how Cole fails to address capitalism’ ?!!!
And no I value my time way too much, to listen to a hour long
interview of a self absorbed rapper.
If he “completely implicates himself in wanting to make money in the way that capitalism makes all people concerned with hustling and making money!” It just proves my point that he’s without knowledge of self, and is just another pawn in the masses of sheeple.
And “capitalism makes all people concerned with hustling and making money!” Wait what?! Maybe in some parallel universe! Most people yes, but definitely not all. Believe it or not, some of us are not sheeple.
He is obviously at the beginning of his journey, which I doubt will ever be anything remotely close to intellectual.
What challenging questions are you referring to?
Rappers using there platform, for a positive and altruistic message is rare indeed and maybe because of that, next to nothing can make it EXCITING in your eyes.
You fail to comment on the fact that his statement about hip hop being all white, is not only ridiculous, but also racist.
Even if racism against white people were possible (and it’s not) how is his comment racist? My problem with people commenting before they listen to the interview is this magazine clearly took a fragment of his interview to make a sensational headline; he was really saying this is the time when we are shifting towards a more whitewashed version of hip-hop (an art form created by and for the oppressed) because white people are more palatable to other white people, not necessarily because they are more talented. And yes, he does admit Eminem is extremely talented. When I said capitalism renders all people concerned with making money, you’re right- there are people who join communes or live on reservations for whom money is not the goal. For everyone else who slaves away at a nine-to-five because capitalism REQUIRES that they do, the majority of their life inadvertently becomes about making money, buying food, paying for a roof over their heads. That is what Cole means. I am not saying he isn’t self-absorbed, most entertainers are. But to see someone using their platform for something other than simply promoting themselves IS on some level exciting. I wish it wasn’t, I wish this were the norm, but it’s not.
To quote from below:
YOU CANNOT BE RACIST AGAINST WHITE PEOPLE. This is simply because you just can’t oppress the oppressor. There is no “reverse racism” (please see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw_mRaIHb-M), women can’t be sexist, queer people cannot oppress straight people. Oppression requires systematic discrimination – white people do not experience systematic discrimination for being white because they can’t, because they built the system and it continually works in their favor. This doesn’t mean white people/artists don’t have to work hard, don’t experience their own hardships. But to believe that they experience racism is fucking ridiculous.
Thank you for your reply, I sincerely mean that.
First of oppression and racism isn’t the same thing. However in a historical perspective, the two often goes hand in hand.
You can’t just give you own meaning to words, so it suits your agenda, feelings and opinions.
Racism, noun
1.
a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.
2.
a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
3.
hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
So “reverse-racism” doesn’t make any sense as a term, that would actually be the complete opposite of racism, were you would be tolerant of all races. The proper term should simply be racism, or in this case at the very least “inverse racism.”
And maybe now you understand why J. Cole’s comments per definition IS racist. And why YOU per definition are being racist as well. Stereotyping about, in this case white people, is simply racist.
Try generalizing instead. It’s not ignorant acknowledging things that are more often than not, or often true, but realizing it does not apply for every case. “..can’t oppress the oppressor” is one example. Like all ‘white people’ are active oppressors. Believe it or not, some ‘white people’ are actually against the current racist system in for instance USA.
I agree HipHopDX clearly took a fragment of his interview to make a sensational headline. However I’m just addressing this article, and the whole interview doesn’t really affect my point.
You don’t have to join comunes or live in reservations for money to not be the goal, that’s ridiculous. Money is a necessity in this capitalist world yes, and a partial goal for all. And sadly the main goal for many. There is a big difference.
J. Cole is right about that for everyone who slaves away at a nine-to-five because capitalism REQUIRES that they do, the majority of their life inadvertently becomes about making money, buying food, paying for a roof over their heads.
I agree to see someone using their platform for something other than simply promoting themselves is on SOME level exciting. And I as well wish it wasn’t, I also wish this were the norm, but sadly it’s not.
Okay, let’s get this straight. The reason why rap sucks is because the repetitiveness in its context. The word N–ga is used so much these days as a “GET OUT OF JAIL CARD” meaning that if you have nothing to truly say then just say that word in between the repetitive garbage that’s been said by 100 other rappers this week. Not going to lie, black rappers tend to talk about the same street hustle gun toting drug shit over and over. If you’ve heard one 50 Cent album you’ve heard them all and that goes for 90% of rap.
White rappers aren’t better, more original but they can’t use the made up street life because people will see right through it. When you hear a white, Latino or even Asian rapper use the “N” word or talk about the street hustle it gets them nowhere. Have you ever seen a popular white, Latino, or Asian gangsta rapper in the mainstream? No. Eminem, Macklemore, Beastie Boys and others are/were popular because they appeal to the mass audience, white suburban kids that don’t relate to the bitches, ho’s and street jargon.
It’s not a race thing, it’s a GOOD MUSIC or even if you will, pop music feel. Nicki Minaj is a perfect example of a black artist that knows where the audience is and it’s not in raunchy music (Anaconda excluded). She makes pop rap for the kids. Artists like Nelly, Chingy, Snoop, Jay-Z and so forth made/make music that adapts to what kids want to hear because it sells. Weather that be in the production value, hooks or features, it’s about adapting to the environment and music landscape.
White people aren’t taking YOUR music. That sounds so stupid to say but stupid people say stupid shit. J.Cole’s album sounds like a bitter young man that went to a black history class at his local community college and walked out with notes for his new album.
When I hear that white people stole music from black people I tend to the think, “How, please tell me?” I understand the idea of rhythm and feel to a certain genre of music but to say that people stole is ridiculous. I never understood how people can claim something to themselves but when it’s crap or someone else is using it they either want to disclaim it or blame it.
J.Cole isn’t wrong to say that white music artist are in the mainstream with hip-hop but it’s 1 for every 20 black artists. Most radio stations these days don’t even play hip-hop like they did in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. I can name 20 black hip-hop artist on the radio before I even get to Eminem’s name. If he’s talking just Hip-Hop then he’s wrong 100% because most Hip-Hop stations aren’t playing the white rappers majority of the time if at all. The Top 40 stations play mainly white artists but that’s pop music. I know, that was stolen too or it’s too many whites or some shit like that.
In the end it’s about the audience and adapting to them. People might feel like you’re not making music for yourself anymore but that’s not the point of making music. An artist makes music to entertain, acquire fans, make money and that’s by giving fans what they want to hear in any genre of music. If you’re good at your craft you’ll make what you want and the audience will relate and if not you can be LMFAO and just make a boat load of money on party music. If you just want to make music that relates to you and your friends, do it, good luck. The big picture is that there is 1 popular artist in any genre for every 10,000 at home trying to make a hit song or become famous.
Tech Nine is good example of an artist that does what he wants but he still entertains his fans and does it well. It’s about your core fan base and not the idea of, “It’s not fair, he’s more popular than me because he’s white.” No, he’s or she’s more popular because people like their music more. I’m sorry Mr. Cole that you didn’t think things through and just looked at the surface but it’s okay, your famous and make good money and what you do, good just half white guy, damn it, that half stole from the black half and that’s the reason why… oh forget it.
Quality = Entertaining the audience these days and not force feeding them the same old shit over and over.
im with you for the most part except your shot at godfather 50.
Big Pun
They can’t talk shit about hoes weed and other bullshit? REALLY?
Yelawolf, MGK, Mac Miller, Iggy Azalea, Riff Raff … pleeeease look up some of their damn lyrics.
Calm down white people LMFAO! He’s talking about the big wigs that run hip hop. They’re all white. The distribution Companies White. What he’s saying is they don’t know any better than to put out the usual bullshit. Bitchiz, Blunts, guns, and money and that is why the culture is stagnant right now. And we’re not saying white people don’t know the culture because w/o Rick Rubin there would be no Def Jam. Eminem the name speaks for itself. But those Milli/Billionaire’s who really run this shit mostly are white and they don’t know shit about the culture or the struggle that we used to hear about from the Nas’s, Tupac’s, KRS ONE’s, Ice Cube’s of the world.
Its hilarious how much the hurt white people in the comment section only proves j coles point more. The only people who can get awards for being mediocre are white people. Ex. Iggy and Miley. Hip hop was so much bettteter in the 90s. Stop feeling like you have tok take over everything. Learn and experience the culture before you try to act like you are better than pac. Let’s be real. Very few are as good and very few will ever be better.
I find it so strange that humans categorize themselves by skin pigment. So much so, that they allow it to control the way they live their life. I am a mix of all different types of human beings from many different continents and I just never felt like I was so much of one race that I had to act a certain way. To me all of this is so simple minded and a waste of our abilities. I also feel like saying that so called white people toke hip hop is like saying black people toke basketball or Latin people toke baseball, which is ridiculous. It becomes part of a culture and you feed it to people and then think they won’t want to be a part of it is a blind thought. Could you imagine what we could really achieve as human beings if we would focus on things that are good rather than fighting over something we shouldn’t be. All humans started in the same place and will end the same way and I cant help but imagine what music and everything else can become when we stop putting ourselves and our creativity in a box because of the way you look. It is sad and we should more intelligent at this point in history.
You should ask white people since they started this whole thing. As a matter of fact, they took it a whole level further by killing people based on their skin colour.
I’m white and honestly I disagree but for what you would think. I just believe that white ppl have developed such a love for the art that it has became a growing passion for any person of any culture. I rap too and I don’t feel like I’m taking from the culture but adding my seasoning to the mix. I don’t think that is something to be apologetic about and it will never change. I think that no one should be upset when music is made no matter the skin color or culture. I’m sorry for my ancestors and what they did but I’m not one of them and will never be one. I mean there are even African Americans who have dived off into Metal and Country but no one seems to be bothered by that?.. just saying. I’m grateful and J Cole is top 5 all time. I’m not of color so maybe I would see things from a different light but to be real.. Black ppl brought white ppl into their culture of music. Rap was primarily Black and look Dre was the only one that saw Eminem for who he truly was.. meaning Dre recognized the talent and the passion.. and dollar signs of course but Dre knew Em loved rap more than life itself.. is it not possible for it all to be about love rather than “they taking over” no one took anything the Best known rappers of all time are Black.. or mixed. And look Lil Wayne even the goat himself thinks it has nothing to do with being black and he don’t understand racism because he’s sees so many white ppl in his crowds right with black ppl and they all come for the same thing.. MUSIC.