Andrew Prince
Staff Reporter
Now with all biased thoughts put aside, Kendrick Lamar has the upper hand over J.Cole. Overrated, no! He deserves all the respect he receives. While J. Cole is an amazing artist he still does not compare to Kendrick. Kendrick includes his life, the listeners' life, and past endeavors by trying to progress in life itself. Kendrick Lamar is a talented rapper, but his true skill lies within his creativity, and artistic ability to express his perspective.
Good Kid, m.A.A.d City, for example, was an album that had a bigger picture, songs belonged on that album, in the order that they were placed in. On the other hand, J. Cole brings together average teens, early adolescents, and personal life into his music. Cole’s music is more relatable, therefore people resonate more with true history to African-American life. Consequently, some might say he is better, Cole is good but Kendrick just brings more value to music. He is more than a rapper, he is an artist. Kendrick Lamar is an amazing artist and less of a rapper.
Kendrick Lamar is also more popular in comparison to J. Cole because of his delivery and artistic views when rapping. Similar to 2Pac who had tremendous energy and was well known for being a relatable rapper. However, Biggie relied on storytelling and genius wordplay, similar to J. Cole.
Kendrick Lamar is more of a poet rather than a rapper and is more creative and diverse when it comes to his albums. On his album To Pimp A Butterfly, no song sounds anything like the other. However, they are all beautifully connected by spoken poetry. While J Cole was basically the only one singing on his album, Kendrick was far from being afraid to bring in some of the best singers today to bring his album to its full potential. In addition to his long-time collaborator Anna Wise, Kendrick brought in the legendary bass player and singer, George Clinton, Snoop Dogg, and Pharrell Williams, who was not given a feature, but more or less created the concept for his song Alright. Tupac came back from the dead to record with Kendrick! Many people have said that Kendrick's album runs less like an album, and more like a movie, and I could not agree more. The entire album never loses focus of the main plot and idea, and the end may leave you in tears.
In contrast to J. Cole, Kendrick chases invincibility through his music. His songs are where he finds security and strength and reflects his escape from childhood and adolescence surrounded by violence, drugs, and crime. He is a black man who demands that black people show appropriate pride in themselves, their culture, and demands that you, the listener, understand and appreciate what he and his music represents. Heavy beats, haunting melodies, and explosive guitar riffs characterize Kendrick’s music, thus appealing to young audiences and shooting his songs up the Billboard charts. This, combined with his lyrical ability, switch-ups inflow, dramatic changes in voice, visually striking music videos, and relevant, important subject matter, makes you feel as if Kendrick has literally grabbed your face and shoved it straight into a barrel of knowledge-water, holding you down while you thrash about, screaming at you, “Learn, Learn!”.
Kendrick is something totally different. He has created his own genre of rap. Whereas 2/5 of the song is deep, ferocious, in-your-face lyrics, 1/5 a beautifully fitting sample that only enhances and emphasizes the meaning to his lyrics, and 2/5 instrumental and adlibs, like Duckworth here the change in instrumental for different parts of the story tells the story in more depth. He raps with a sort of supercilious manner, refer to HUMBLE if you disagree. Exerting his expertise in rap on you, and you have no choice but to be enticed. He does not share J. Cole’s laid-back nature, which probably explains why he gets more views on YouTube and why he is more popular in general.
His poetry resembles that of Tupac’s, deep, yet relevant, you ‘must be in a sort of mood to listen. They are so complex that you must pause every couple of seconds to figure out and deconstruct what he is saying. I think it gets in the way of the enjoyment of the music, like in his Black Friday, or Poetic Justice. I am positive Kendrick Lamar is the most topical mainstream music act of this decade, or at least among those who are, and even when he does rehash certain topics, he tends to provide an unfounded perspective of them.
When crafting an album, most musicians of today tend to invest effort in few songs, consequently creating weak albums. Lamar is one of the few exceptions. For the duration of an album, he is very rarely short of ambitious, creative ideas that he routinely executes to perfection. His many characters and emotions I think are one of the many factors that separate Lamar from his contemporaries. Most performers invest their entire emotional range into lyrics. Lamar does this but also uses his voice and vocal inflections as a critical component of his music. Lamar also uses his voice to play different characters and versions of himself. This, even very briefly, maybe a younger self. His mother. His father. His friend. His conscience. I think this is partially why Lamar turns so many people off. Very few musicians have this many dimensions and are this attention-commanding. He kind of uses a form of method-acting. He occasionally and intentionally sounds less like himself and more like the people in the area of Compton he was raised in. He will sound despondent, on the verge of tears, anxious, urgent, and extremely frustrated. He gets in character to make the narratives believable. Kendrick Lamar’s discography through the 2010s is unparalleled. He holds two titans of the decade in good kid, M.A.A.d City and To Pimp A Butterfly.
Is there an artist in history who has been as warmly received in their time as Kendrick Lamar? Kendrick is the most critically acclaimed musician of the 21st century. Even by people who are not particularly fans of his, there is a general agreement that he is the most exciting thing in music in the last 5+ years. He is the first popular artist to win the Pulitzer Prize for music. His music is studied in college institutions and praised by educators and academics. To Pimp A Butterfly is one of four albums archived in the Harvard Library. In the future, he will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame while TPAB( To Pimp A Butterfly) will be included in the National Recording Registry. He could very well win the Nobel Prize for literature like any day in his life.
He is such a genius with his music. He is the best lyricist in my opinion. His storytelling is also great but not on the level of J. Cole. A lot of people will claim that his raps are often too confusing but to understand him you must understand where he comes from. His music takes you on an adventure through the struggles of being poor, black, and in the hood. He also touches things including spirituality, guilt, and many other emotions and modern-day issues. His songs often have many different meanings and they often make you feel a certain emotion. He speaks about many different topics that a lot of people can relate to if they would listen. He is a conscious rapper with power behind his words. Enough power to represent and maybe even cause a change in the future. Kendrick is undisputedly deemed to be the greatest rapper in the industry today and arguably one of the best to ever touch the mic in history. At only 30 years old, he is built a track record unmatched by any of his peers. This Good Kid in a Ma.A. d City has shown us how overly dedicated he is to his craft. He detailed his rise from a Section 80 environment while teaching us how To Pimp a Butterfly.
He continues to mature and become a household name. When we think Kendrick can no longer surprise us, he surpasses our expectations leaving us thinking DAMN. We can discuss for hours on end how much Kendrick means to the industry. However, when speaking of influence, this is bigger than his undeniable talent. Today, Kendrick Lamar has changed the way people view rap today. In conclusion, if I were to choose the best rapper I’d have to say, Kendrick Lamar. His bars are so complex and they often have many different meanings to them. When I listen to his music, it is like I can feel what he is saying and every emotion that goes along with it. He was also just the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Award. J. Cole is definitely real but his message is simple. It is meant for people who do and don't listen to hip hop to understand. Kendrick basically has an unlimited flow meant to bless any beat and contains so much complexity that it is insane. His words have the power to make a change and I believe that they will rise above just music in the future.
In conclusion, Kendrick is better than J. Cole in many categories.
Image Credit: Getty Images
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