Rose-colored Lenses

Fayetteville's Own.

What up people!! So last night I attended the mixtape release party for Roc Nation’s new rap artist J. Cole. For those who don’t know, Roc Nation is Jay-Z’s new record label and Mr. Jermaine Cole (J. Cole) is their only rap artist.  He hails from Fayetteville, North Carolina so of course I’m somewhat biased because hes from NC and a huge UNC fan (he showed me a picture of the UNC logo as the screensaver on his phone!).  He moved to NYC after high school to attend college because he felt like being in NY was the only way he would be able to score a record deal.  Long story short after a show in the area, his music caught the ear of Jay Z and they worked together to create his deal on Roc Nation.  His newest mixtape ‘The Warm Up’ can (AND SHOULD) be downloaded here and what’s most impressive is that all tracks were written AND produced by J. Cole himself.  I listened to the entire mixtape last night before I went to the release, so here are my 5 favorite tracks. Please remember that I’ve only listened to the whole track listing once so here goes:

1. Heartache

2. Lights Please

3. Grown Simba

4. Dead Presidents II

5. Water Break (a sick freestyle interlude)

Honorable Mention: Knock Knock…honestly this may need to make my top five but I’ll let yall decide.

All in all this mixtape is very very good. It has a little bit of Southern flavor but is heavenly influenced by NYC, seeing that he spent 4 years living here for college.  I would even go so far to say that this mixtape is better than Drake’s because it features less collaborations and is slightly more lyrically advanced. As much as I love Drake, there were times when I listened to certain tracks that I felt like he was either still riding the coat tails of Wayne or Wayne actually killed him in a verse.  In my opinion, you should never be competing against someone on your own album/mixtape. Its your time to shine so please do so. 

Anyways speaking of Drake, this past Sunday he shot his video for ‘Best I Ever Had’ in Prospect Park in Brooklyn and word is it featured cameos from Trey Songz, Common, Weezy, Hov and was directed by Kanye West. DAMN the young gunna is pulling out all the heavy hitters! Its really great to see a young artist have so much support. A rough copy of the video should be ready in two weeks so I’ll keep an eye out for it for you guys! Enjoy J. Cole! PEACE, LOVE AND ROSES!

I should definitely be sleeping right now but this new/old news is keeping me awake. Ok so apparently I’ve been sleepin on dude but I just cannot help but write about this young man who is providing a breath of fresh air to the rap game right now. Some of you may recognize Aubrey “Drake” Graham as “Jimmy” from the hit Nickelodeon television show “Degrassi” where he played a student confined to a wheelchair after a school shooting (yea…the show is kinda OD especially since its targeted to tweens but thats another story). He has quietly been making mix tapes since 2006 and has recently exploded on the scene and is being hailed as Lil Wayne’s protege. He is currently signed on Wayne’s label Young Money Entertainment and word on the street is that he was very recently signed to Atlantic records. He has dual citizenship and hails from Toronto and Memphis respectively. I am literally obsessed with him. I cannot stop listening to his music or reading articles about him because I love the fact that he doesn’t pretend to be anything that he isn’t. He is so honest about not fitting the stereotypical role of a rapper and does not mind talking about his past in regards to acting and how he feels about being a crossover product. I definitely cannot talk about him enough but you MUST listen to his music so that you can feel the same way! His most recent mixtape is called ‘So Far Gone’ and can be downloaded here. He really is amazing, and I guess what I’m most impressed by is that on the surface, he’s just an actor off of a nickelodeon show which in my mind means that he has had to work so much harder than your average artist to gain respect in the rap game and at this point he really does have so much respect from so many people (Wayne co-signed!). DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS DUDE. Trust me 2009 will definitely be his year. And uh…not to mention…hes kinda fine lol. Enjoy the music and stay rosed up!