By Jamil Weeks

J. Cole has come a long way. My admiration for his achievements is monumental. As someone who grew up in the same hometown of Fayetteville, NC (b.k.a. Fayettenam to its residents) and went to the same high school, Terry Sanford High, it makes me proud to see someone that came from where I came from make it out of the city to become a superstar in the rap game. What makes it so surreal is I grew up as a huge fan of hip hop culture, particularly the element of rap music, and wanted to be a rapper as a kid. I would stand in the mirror and rap my favorite songs, play the cassette tapes of my favorite rappers endlessly on my Walkman with the Super Bass feature turned all the way up, and even recorded my own rap "album" as a kid using a boombox, tape recorder with blank cassettes, and the instrumentals I would find on cassette singles I had in my possession. However, Jazzy J (the rap moniker I selected for myself) would not come close to reaching the heights Jermaine Cole has experienced. From platinum plaques to selling out Madison Square Garden and hosting his own Dreamville music festivals, J. Cole has built an impressive resume over the past 10 years. Cole's hard work has paid off as he has gained respect in both mainstream and underground circles. In 2023, he went on a vicious murder spree with guest features that would make a '97 Canibus jealous. In the past week, Complex Magazine crowned Fayetteville's own as the best rapper alive in 2023. Was this designation warranted, or were there other rappers more deserving of this title?

As biased as I am of J. Cole's career, I am also a student of the game. J. Cole did have an impressive list of high-profile features, from Burna Boy, Drake, Gucci Mane, Lil Durk, Lil Yachty, Summer Walker, and others. However, in social media circles (particularly "hip hop twitter"), the narrative began to circulate that J. Cole was ducking the "real" lyricists. Many feel emcees like Conway the Machine, Planet Asia, Ransom, RJ Payne, and Rome Streetz, would eat Cole alive like he was a plate from Fuller's Old-Fashioned BBQ. The general sentiment amongst the backpackers, rap nerds, and purists was that J. Cole did not want any linguistic smoke from this caliber of lyricists and was playing it safe by collaborating with the Lil Durks and Lil Yachtys. Fair assessment, but short sighted. J. Cole over his illustrious career has been featured on songs with Benny the Butcher, Jay Electronica, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Rapsody, Royce Da 5'9", Talib Kweli, and Yasiin Bey. If he were trying to duck the competition, it would not make sense for him to collaborate with any of these respected artists. Not to mention sparring with some of the lyricists on his own Dreamville label, from Cozz to JID. J. Cole’s 2023 features seem to be an effort to drum up support for a potential highly anticipated album dropping this year by working with some of the hottest and buzzworthy mainstream rap artists more than ducking any competition. I personally would love for J. Cole to collaborate with more underground artists because it is my belief that J. Cole could very well go toe to toe with any rapper today, rather young or old.

Speaking of old, one of 2023's unsung heroes was rap veteran, Nas. 2023 was a great year for the iconic emcee. Nas sold out Madison Square Garden by himself, sold out Yankee Stadium in arguably the biggest Hip Hop 50 celebration arranged by his company (Mass Appeal Records) as a co-headliner, co-headlined a worldwide tour with Wu-Tang Clan, got placements on a couple movie soundtracks (Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), made the cover of GQ Magazine, co-financed the first Hip Hop Grandmasters Awards recognizing Rakim and Scarface as the first inductees, dropped two albums (Magic 2 and Magic 3), was nominated for a Grammy for King's Disease 3, and was inducted into Billboard's Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. What is especially impressive about this was Nas had arguably the biggest year of any current rapper while celebrating his 50th birthday. Was Nas more deserving of being crowned best rapper alive in 2023? Well, there is definitely an argument there. However, you can argue J. Cole's features had more visibility. With Nas, as is the case with all the collaborations with Hit Boy, he dropped his albums with little to no marketing. There were people literally unaware he had released albums this year. Complex Magazine is a mainstream media outlet, and Nas’s impressive run was largely ignored by most mainstream media. Fair or not, J. Cole's feature run was more talked about amongst the demographic that matters to mainstream media. Cole's verses on these features kept him at the forefront of conversations from that specific demographic. A publication like Complex Magazine is not in tune with the culture enough to acknowledge the impressive accomplishments of Nasir Jones. You can make the argument that Cole was the safe pick, as he is in that rare conversation of emcees that get respected in multiple rap circles. However, the admiration Cole does receive is proof of him being in the conversation as the best rapper alive last year, while not taking away from the stellar feats conquered by Nas in 2023.

J. Cole reaching these types of heights in his career is beyond impressive being that he comes from a city that has no built-in infrastructure for making it in the music business. Fayetteville is a small town that nobody would mistake for a big media market like Atlanta, Los Angeles, or New York City. You can make the argument that him being named Best Rapper Alive is the culmination of the extraordinary resume he has built since he first started blazing mixtapes at the tail end of the 2000s. All six of his albums have reached platinum status from the RIAA, with some of those albums containing no features. Cole has won awards for his music from Billboard, the Grammys, and Soul Train. Cole has worked with many of hip-hop’s biggest artists of the past 15 years and has held his own against them both as an artist and lyricist. Cole, along with Drake and Kendrick Lamar, have become the modern-day hip hop trinity taking over those spots from Biggie, Jay-Z, and Nas. The Dreamville festival in Raleigh, NC has featured some of today’s biggest artists sharing the same stage and has attracted a lot of business to the Triangle area in North Carolina. I have no doubt that J. Cole would be the undisputed contemporary GOAT if he was born in Brooklyn or Queens with all these achievements. Make no mistake about it, while it is up for debate, you cannot make the argument that J. Cole does not deserve to be named the best rapper alive given all that he has accomplished and where he comes from.

Rather you agree with Complex Magazine or not, you cannot argue the ripple effect Cole created with his impressive verses on his 2023 features. For a mainstream magazine to recognize him as the best rapper alive with no albums released is just another bullet in the chamber to add to Cole’s legendary career. Sure, there are other artists, like Ransom or Nas, that dropped multiple projects last year that could be potential classics. While I am also a fan of those rappers and their work, I have to keep it real and confront the reality that those great albums did not move the needle of the culture outside of their fan base or hip hop circles. J. Cole has spent years putting in work to reach a level where he is recognized as one of the greats, rather you are young or an “old head”. Underground or mainstream. Cole has carved out his own empire and did it his own way. Cole is the posterchild for the regular dude. Cole is not draped in high end European fashion or engaging in materialistic gimmicks most rappers resort to for relevance. Instead, he dresses in outfits that could come off the rack of TJ Maxx. Cole also strays away from engaging in Wendy Williams-like tactics with celebrity gossip or exposing other artists through social media. Cole allows his music and his hard work ethic to speak for him. His career can serve as an example of how true talent and blood, sweat, and tears are enough to get you to where you want to be in the music industry. Cole has earned his spot. The only thing missing in his arsenal is that definitive classic album. Hopefully in 2024, he finally delivers that timeless album we all know he is capable of given his talent. Jermaine Cole may have let Nas down, but he made Fayetteville very proud!!