walking upstream…
J. Cole
sourcesWikipedia · American Songwriter
Jermaine Lamarr Cole was born on a U.S. Army base in Frankfurt, Germany, and grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where he taught himself to produce and rap before moving to New York for college. A self-released run of mixtapes (The Come Up, The Warm Up) caught Jay-Z's ear and made Cole the first artist signed to Roc Nation in 2009, and across albums like Cole World: The Sideline Story, Born Sinner, and the confessional, platinum 2014 Forest Hills Drive he built a lane as hip-hop's diary-keeper — plainspoken, self-interrogating verses about family, faith, and Black life in America. By the 2010s he had become one of rap's rare commercial-critical hybrids, filling arenas while still rapping like he owes someone an explanation.
the sound in question
2014
No Role ModelzJ. Cole
walk the tributaries ↓
Nas1990s · Hip hop / East Coast hip hop
Nas is the influence Cole has been most explicit — and most anxious — about: he named a whole song 'Let Nas Down' after Nas publicly criticized one of his early tracks, and Cole has repeatedly cited Nas's literary, first-person storytelling as a direct template for his own verses.
listen: upstream & here
1994
N.Y. State of MindNas
2013
Let Nas DownJ. Cole
listen forHear Nas's 'N.Y. State of Mind' — dense, cinematic, unglamorous street reportage — then Cole's 'Let Nas Down,' a song literally built around measuring himself against that standard.
Tupac Shakur1990s · West Coast hip-hop / Conscious hip-hop
Cole has said Tupac was his favorite rapper before he'd even started rapping himself — the confessional, diary-like honesty and willingness to sound unguarded rather than invincible runs through Cole's writing from his earliest mixtapes onward.
listen: upstream & here
1995
Dear MamaTupac Shakur
2013
Crooked SmileJ. Cole
listen forCue up Tupac's 'Dear Mama' and then Cole's 'Crooked Smile' — both turn a family portrait (a mother's sacrifice, a sister's self-image) into a plainspoken, unguarded verse instead of a boast, the diary-entry mode Cole has pointed to Pac for.
Jay-Z1990s–2000s · East Coast hip-hop / Mafioso rap
Cole has said Jay-Z was 'a mentor before I ever signed to him' — he studied Jay's internal rhyme schemes and unhurried, conversational confidence for years before Jay-Z made him the first artist signed to Roc Nation in 2009 and brought him on tour to watch up close.
listen: upstream & here
2001
Song CryJay-Z
2014
January 28thJ. Cole
listen forPut Jay-Z's 'Song Cry' — a hardened narrator dropping the front to admit heartbreak — next to Cole's 'January 28th,' where Cole works through his own conflicted feelings about fame and worth in that same measured, talk-to-you-straight cadence.