Cole, Diamonds, And Gold

Every road starts with the steps we take. That first one tends to be the hardest one more often than not. I myself remember that first step I made in college. I shook like a leaf on a tree but somehow I made that first one. After that the second was difficult but nowhere near as difficult as the first. All the steps following were easier but took something of me.

For a rapper this is no different.

You make the steps, unsure of what the next one will entail despite that uncertainty that you get. But you press on. Sometimes it yields wonderful fruit.

These are the fruits of his work.

Signing to The Roc.

The Come-Up.

The Warm-Up.

Friday Night Lights.

“Who Dat”

Cole World: A Sideline Story.

These are the steps which North Carolina rapping phenom J. Cole has been taking towards his success. Each of his mixtapes touts impressive content as well as songs that tend to stick in your consciousness very well.

My favorite thus far has been The Warm-Up.

“Losing My Balance” is a personal favorite, along with “Dreams”, “A Dollar And A Dream“, and “I Get Up”.

Friday Night Lights brought us that Drake assisted “In The Morning”.

Two of the above mentioned songs (“A Dollar And A Dream“ and “In The Morning”) made it onto his debut album along with countless other wonderful tracks. I was truly feeling his big studio debut with an immensity of excitement I haven’t had in a while. It was a fire akin to the one I felt when I purchased both Untitled by Nas and Tha Carter III by Lil’ Wayne.

As he basks in the moment, the ‘flashing lights’ that label affiliate Kanye West once described playing all around him I wonder does he ponder over the next steps.

I once wrote a story about the follow-up curse and how it often hits artists. As J. Cole languishes in his current successes I pray that he ponders over such things. Personally I am of the mind that this talented soul will be above that sort of nonsense. As always I allow for the fact that I, being human, can be wrong as anyone.

So we come to an impasse, a fork in the road where we cannot tell what is to come.

Either the next step will be glorious or it he will truly live in a Cole world.