J Cole Research Paper

The Meaning Behind Neighbors
Jermaine Cole, otherwise known as J. Cole, is an American hip hop artist based out of New York City. Earlier in his career his music was notorious for having a gangster sound to it due to the lyrics and beats that the songs possessed. Though in his most recent albums Cole’s sound began to change drastically. It was seen a tiny bit in his earlier album ”2014 Forest Hills Drive”, but when “4 Your Eyes Only” dropped, his most recent album, listeners were able to see an entirely different side of him. Cole speaks deeply about the issues of racism and oppression in black community’s around the United States by rhyming about his own experiences growing up and beyond. One song in particular on the album that I believe

Cole’s producer, Elite, tells the real story of what Neighbors is all about. J. Cole rented out a house in the woods outside of a rich white suburb in North Carolina, his birthplace, where artists and producers apart of his team “Dreamville” went to record. Neighbors of the house became suspicious believing that since many black people were in and out that it was some sort of drug operation. Eventually one neighbor told law enforcement that he knew people in the house were growing and selling marijuana. In response the police started a huge investigation costing upwards of a million dollars. SWAT team eventually raided the studio believing they would find massive amounts of drugs, but they were simply greeted with recording

Surrounded by the trees and Ivy League . Students that's recruited highly. Thinkin' "You do you and I do me". Crib has got a big 'ol back 'ol yard. My niggas stand outside and pass cigars, filled with marijuana, laughin' hard; thankful that they friend's a platinum star. In the driveway there's no rapper cars just some shit to get from back and forth, just some shit to get from back and forth. Welcome to the Sheltuh, this is pure. We'll help you if you've felt too insecure. To be the star you always knew you were. Wait, I think police is at the door”, which leads into the chorus “Okay, the neighbors think I’m sellin’ dope.”. What these lyrics explain clearly is the racism that is still present in America today. J. Cole made his money legally just like most of the black community in America and wanted to create a safe haven for other black artist to be successful. Just because him and his friends are ethnically and culturally different than the white community in America people viewed them differently. Differently enough to call the police on them with little to no reason. He uses other examples like this later in the song to explain his differences from the mainstream white community affect his everyday life. One other example of this is some of the lyrics in his second verse. “Took a little break just