Tag: 21 Savage

#RushHourRap – J. Cole – p u n c h i n ’ . t h e . c l o c k

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Teeterin’ between enlightened and insanity
Now that I’m rich, I feel nobody understandin’ me
All I can do is cut the mic on, holler at you
Can’t let the fame scare me off from speaking candidly

p u n c h i n ’ . t h e . c l o c k kicks off with an incredibly insightful clip of Damian Lillard, after dropping 61 points, speaking about the necessity of doing the hard work when nobody’s watching, which helps illustrate the picture that J. Cole is trying to paint with his entire album here. It doesn’t matter how far he’s come, he still needs to put the work in every day if he wants to be the best. Check out the first 2 minutes of the video below that Cole put together documenting the creation of The Offseason and you can literally feel his passion as he explains the concept of the album to 21 Savage.

“Do you really wanna look back 10, 20 years from now on this music shit and be like the reason you didn’t make it in music was because you didn’t put in the work?…One more time before I leave, before I fill like I’m fulfilled in this game, let me try and reach new heights from a skill level standpoint.”

I’ve always had an affinity for J. Cole dating back to my college days when I was downloading The Warm Up and just playing it on loop in my dorm room. To watch one of your favorite artists come up from putting out mixtapes to minting his sixth straight Platinum album with The Offseason is incredibly satisfying. Hopefully he keeps putting out these elite level rhymes, but even if he retired today J. Cole has already cemented his status as one of the best to ever do it.

#RushHourRap – Cozz ft. J. Cole – Zendaya

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A side note, I’m rootin’ for you, I use these bars and start recruitin’ for you
But treat her right
And just remember, on your lonely nights this mic will be your friend
You tell it all your secrets that you keepin’ deep within
Your fantasies, regrets, your happy moments and your sins
And if he doesn’t comprehend, at least he can pretend
Let’s begin to be the men we never seen

J. Cole really is a one man murderers’ row of guest spots, including this 2018 feature on Cozz’s “Zendaya” track. Cozz is a member of Cole’s record label, Dreamville, and has been featured throughout Cole’s Revenge of the Dreamers series that’s essentially acted as a spotlight for his up and coming artists. Cole has spoken extensively about how he intentionally got on as many other artist’s tracks as possible to show people what he can really do when he’s in his bag. So much so that he even rapped on “A Lot” how nobody even wants him on their song anymore because he’s that good.

I never was one for the bragging and boasting
I guess I was hoping the music would speak for itself, but the people want everything else
Okay, no problem, I’ll show up on everyone album
You know what the outcome will be
I’m batting a thousand
It’s got to the point that these rappers don’t even like rappin’ with me

#RushHourRap – 21 Savage – A Lot

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I pray for Markelle ’cause they fucked up his shot,
Just want you to know that you got it
Though I never met you, I know that you special
And that the Lord blessed you, don’t doubt it
Dennis Smith Jr., stay solid

With the NBA Draft today I was looking for a relevant #RushHourRap (we already did Draft Day) so what better excuse for some more J. Cole? On last year’s Grammy winning 21 Savage track “A Lot,” Cole swoops in with one of the best features of his career as he gives life advice to everyone, including Orlando Magic point guard (and friend of The 300s) Markelle Fultz.

Fultz promptly unliked our tweet after all the blowback his twitter activity got. We miss ya, Markelle

Check out just how impactful that J. Cole line was for a struggling Fultz in this interview with NBA.com:

A verse written by J. Cole in that song helped inspire Magic guard Markelle Fultz and let the former No. 1 overall Draft pick know that not everyone had given up on his struggling basketball career.

Here’s the backstory: J. Cole and Knicks guard Dennis Smith Jr. are both from Fayetteville, N.C., and have known each other for years. Smith is also close to Fultz from NBA Summer League and the two refer to each other as brothers. Roughly a year ago, Smith described how his “brother” was hurting to the five-time Grammy nominee.

Less than a year after being chosen by the Sixers in 2017, Fultz suffered from a shoulder injury and was later diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, which robbed him of his full-range shooting motion and jeopardized his future. Fultz played only 33 games his first two seasons and the Sixers virtually gave him to the Magic last February.

“He was going through a situation and it was a tough situation for someone mentally,” Smith Jr. said. “Cole said, ‘Let me holla at him.’ They just locked in. Cole chopped it up with him and one thing led to another. Crazy.”

Billboard Magazine rated “A Lot” by 21 Savage and J. Cole as the No. 6 song of 2019. It has gone platinum three times and Cole’s lyrics were hailed by critics. Fultz was nearly moved to tears the first time he heard it.

“It was dope,” Fultz said. “Him shouting me out on a song really showed the love and the person he is. I play it a lot, all the time. I love it. To get put in a song is like, dope, an honor.”