J. Cole, Nas & Beyond: When Idols Become Your Rivals Posted by CPT on 06/20/13 | Filed under Opinion, Welcome to Compton

“And that’s around the time that your idols become your rivals/ You make friends with Mike but got to A.I. him for your survival” - Drake

Might be the realest shit the maple leaf ever wrote.

In the summer of 2009, I interned at The Source Magazine, and we stayed having these random hip-hop convos/debates that would often spiral out of control and eat up whole afternoons. A particular one had to do with the idea of OGs knowing when their time was up and “passing the torch.” My girl and fellow intern at the time argued that artists like Jay (who had just dropped “D.O.A.” to its initial lukewarm reception) should, while not straight up retiring, fall back and allow for the J. Cole’s, Currency’s and Wiz Khalifa’s to flourish, all of whom had fire mixtapes out but clearly needed a boost to make it to the next level. My music editor was not having it. Why should Hov, or any other vet have to make room for you? Make room for your damn self, create your own lane, or be so good that you run them off the road. In other words, these vets ain’t passin you shit. Take it or fall back into obscurity, it’s up to you.

That entire dialogue has been replaying in my head for the last few weeks, and with the passing of June 18, and the release of at least five major Hip-Hop bodies of work, it’s a conversation I can’t shake. Obviously the two biggest drops, J.Cole’s "Born Sinner" and Kanye West’s "Yeezus" sparked the flame. I don’t think anyone is going to argue that Cole will outsell ‘Ye, but Cole’s decision to drop the same day, is in and of itself an attempt to snatch the torch. He may not get it come next week or even next year but he damn sure is not of the thinking that it should be given to him.



The battle between Cole and West also reflects the larger battle between generations in Hip-Hop. On one side we have Jay, Nas, Busta, etc., artists from the Clinton era that are still doing it and show no signs of slowing down. Then we have median artists, like ‘Ye, Rick Ross, T.I., etc who play the fence here, and then we have Cole, Kendrick, Wale and the like that are clearly leaving a mark on the game, with or without the blessing of the aforementioned legends. There are those however that feel Hip-Hop is stuck in the past (those good ole '90s) and is a little too reminiscent to the point where it stunts our growth as a culture. Indeed there are still people out there that will argue you to the death that Biggie and/ or Tupac are still the best MCs to ever bless a mic, which just plain and simple isn’t true (yeah, I said it).

When Kendrick Lamar’s “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” remix dropped with stellar verses from Lamar and Jay-Z, our first reaction was to judge who killed it more (an idea that has always been around, but made prevalent by Nas’ assessment of Eminem “murdering” Jay on his own shit). Is it necessary to pit every legend against the nearest prodigy? Not at all, but competition, whether friendly or aggressive, is a part of the culture.

Yes, we can all be great. Jay & Kendrick can co-exist, Nas & Cole can (awkwardly) co-exist, so all the “us vs them” talk isn’t really necessary. However, we all want to get to the top, and just as I eventually want to create something far greater than any editor of mine has even thought of, young MCs first want to match up to their idols and then surpass them, as they should. Who strives to be mediocre, or even second best? Nothing wrong with idols eventually becoming rivals, but we shouldn’t expect idols to make room for this generation. We gotta take that shit, and if we don’t, no one to blame but ourselves.

(Follow CPT right here. You can check out more of her writing on RefinedHype right here.)

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