Joint Kendrick and J.Cole album set to release in 2016
By Deanna Lee // Staff Writer
February is typically a month of love and corny valentine’s cards. But this year, it has a much greater importance. Starting in 2011, underground rappers began not only a name for themselves, but leave a blazing path behind them. Out of the underground emerged two names that when heard now, make listeners excited to hear their tracks on repeat.
Jermaine Lamarr Cole, also known as J. Cole, worked his way out of the shadows of Billboard toppers such as Drake and became the first rapper to go platinum without features. This is a huge accomplishment for any genre, but this did not happen overnight.
Cole’s debut album “Cole World: The Sideline Story” put the young artist in a spotlight that continued to follow and brighten throughout his seemingly nonstop career. By his third studio album “2014 Forest Hills Drive,” there was not a person alive unfamiliar with his unique lyrics.
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, known as Kendrick Lamar, began his rap career as a late teen. It wasn’t until his major-label release of “Good Kid M.A.A.D City” did the world actually begin to recognize the talent in the Compton native.
Lamar’s single “Swimming Pools (Drank )” could be heard everywhere you went along with tracks such as “B*tch Don’t Kill My Vibe” and “Poetic Justice” featuring Young Money rapper Drake. This artist brought something new out of the city known for rap legends as Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and the infamous group N.W.A. Just like Cole, the spotlight upon Lamar has only gotten bigger.
Out of the two of these fantastic artists, it is extremely hard to choose which one I think is better, but when faced with the question, I hands down choose J. Cole. This does not mean that Kendrick is any way less of an artist than Cole; it is just that Cole music resonates much deeper than Lamar’s in the sense that his music is highly adaptable and more relatable.
There is no doubt in my mind that Lamar can easily spit out bars better than most rap artists, but Cole’s lyrics stay in your head day in and day out. He not only speaks about his life as a music star, but he also talks about what his life was like before all of this fame came to him. Lamar does the same thing, yet I find his way of expressing it as very generic. Cole has always stuck to his personal style of music while I think Lamar is slowly inching more into societal rap music.
Now that the two have bathed in their own spotlights, 2016 is home of their new joint album “Reminiscing.” Fans of both rappers are more excited than ever to get even snippets of the album and what these rap geniuses have come up with.
The rap world hasn’t been this anxious and excited for a joint album since Jay-Z and Kanye West’s album “Watch The Throne.” I am mostly excited to hear what the two have collaborated and created together knowing well that apart, they create absolute magic.
It will be interesting to see how their collaboration stands out amongst the other great artists that have done the same thing and if they can both hold their own against one another.