WRITTEN BY KENDALL JACKSON
SHOULD KANYE WEST & JAY-Z
BE THE ONES
WATCHING THE THRONE?
Hip-hop may not be dead, but let’s face it: for those of us who
long for lyricism and crave songs of substance and societal
relevance, the genre is wounded. There are not many artists
in the industry that have been able to make the transition from
being an underground artist to SUCCESSFULLY selling albums on
the mainstream circuits while simultaneously keeping their material relatable and innovative. Most present day rappers sacrifice
socially relevant lyricism for fabricated street cred, fame or both
in some cases. However, there are two artists that have proven to
be the life support of the coma induced genre known as Hip-Hop:
J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar. Of course there are those who will
have a list of rappers they believe fit the bill, and while artists like
Pusha T and Nipsey Hussle get an honourable mention, no
rapper in the modern era of hip-hop has held the longevity of
buzz as well as outright success on both sides of the spectrum as
PHOTO VIA IG: WALEMMG
Cole and Lamar have. Perhaps the only thing that could top the four albums
between these two artists, would be a collaboration album. Well ladies and gentlemen, your prayers and
wishes have been answered…sort of.
During an interview in November 2012, Kendrick made mention to the already titled collaboration album
Out The Sky (because it will drop ‘out the sky’ without a release date or warning) between the young
generals of the rap game. “We gone drop that Out the Sky,” said Kendrick. “I ain’t gonna give no dates,
no nothing. I’m just gonna let it fall.” As a fan of true Hip-Hop it is very difficult to ignore the parallels Out
The Sky has with Young Dro’s P.O.L.O. album (which has been ‘dropping’ since 2008) and not get excited.
With Kendrick (and according to Jay-Z himself, J. Cole as well) already being considered an equal, perhaps
even a superior lyricist to the likes of Jay-Z, Nas, Eminem and Andre 3000 combined with J. Cole creating
more and more beats that are reminiscent of some of Kanye West’s best work, the album has a chance
to be on a level that surpasses Watch The Throne, (which Hov and Ye would do if they were smart). “We
got in a few times,” J. Cole told Jenny Boom Boom of Connecticut’s HOT 93.7 during an interview in February of 2013. One of those times Cole speaks about spawned an instant classic entitled Dumpin’’ which
was produced by Cole and absolutely shredded in a lyrical tornado by Kendrick. If that track is what’s to
be expected for a 14+ track album, then we could be looking at the emergence of one of the best
albums ever released.
|THE KNOWLEGDE OF HIP HOP IS FOR ALL THAT WISH TO TAKE IT| - From the “Gospel of Hip Hop,” Jan. 11, p.391 7.