J Cole is known as one of the most intelligent and Essays

J Cole is known as one of the most intelligent and socially conscious rappers of the new era. His songs are not only feats of lyrical ability, but commentary about the inner city. His song, "Little Ghetto Nigga " is one of those. After listening to the song, I believe that J Cole is making the statement that crime in the inner city has more to do with circumstance and situation than individual choices. When Cole said "Young niggas emulate what's coming out the speakers So everything we learn came from rappers, not teachers Cause if we can't relate, then how the hell you gonna reach us?" he is speaking to the lack of diversity in the public schooling system. This lack of diversity causes young African Americans, males specifically, to look for role models in an unlikely place, on the radio. This place often is a place of destruction, as a lot of rappers are not trying to be role models. Often, these rappers are trying to make enough money to escape their on inner city neighborhoods. Cole further illustrates the point as he continues and says "Surrounded by crooked cops and preachers, (yea) Who am I trusting?" In this part, Cole is saying living in the ghetto you can never be sure who you can trust. Friends become enemies, cops arrest people for fun and don't care about the actual crimes and preachers try to give hope in such a dark situation, but since nothing is improving they only add up to make the whole situation seem even more dark and hopeless. Jay-Z, one of Cole's biggest influences, characterize d the church problem in his song "Where I'm from" He said "I'm from the place where the church is the flakiestAnd niggas is praying to god so long that they atheist" No time to think about illegal when your stomachs touching . By any means, nigga , even if the gun is busting". When Cole says this he is not only talking about the lack of leadership in these communities, but also about how young black men see the police and ch urch officials as untrustworthy . One of the themes of this, and other songs by Cole is the reaching out to inner city youth, specifically young black men. Cole makes music for everyone, but the young black man is the primary listener of his music. . Cole finishes his first verse by saying " I see the world for what it is now I see the odds is looking slim for our kids now Cause, uh, it wasn't set up for my people to rise, (yea) My niggas slang, but I see the pain deep in they eyes Niggas living like they don't give a fuck And I don't blame 'em, it's a cold world, live it up! (live it up) . " In this, Cole is saying As he grows older, J. Cole says that he realizes that the minds et of black people living in the ghetto today is a setup to fail, because they aren't given the same education and opportunities as people in the suburbs. That is why he says the odds are lookin slim for his kids, because as a black in America even today it is hard to be successful. He says people don't care about their future in the ghetto because there isn't much hope for it, as life for them is hard. This is where his "Cole World, No Blanket" slogan comes from, because the world indeed is cold and offers no real protection or warmth. He then tells them since it is a cold world, don't be afraid to live up life. J Cole's most common theme in his music is definitely the inequality of the races. From his early work until the present he's always seen being white as the equivalent to having a head start in life . He doesn't explicitly state it, but J Cole eludes to the fact that for him, and people like him, selling drugs was the only way to support his family . Cole drew comparisons between the races and talked about how he had to support his family when he said " Another