J Cole is considered by many to one of the best rappers of his generation. When he drops anything — be it a song, or an album, or even something as simple as a tweet — people listen, read and watch.
That happened again on Tuesday night when Cole dropped a new song for the first time in about a year called “Snow on tha Bluff.” It felt like everyone took a four minute pause to go listen to the song.
The results probably weren’t what Cole expected, though.
Instead of folks coming back with the usual “wow, this is fire” reaction they’d had to to his other songs, this time fans chastised him for the song’s content.
What is the song even about?
The song’s news peg is the current discussion about racial injustice and police brutality across the country.
Listen to it here.
what made this song different?
He expresses some deep insecurities in this one that we don’t normally hear. It feels like a diary entry. One that serves as both a confession and then a critique — of someone else and, eventually, himself at the end.
He starts off by saying people think he’s “deep, intelligent” and are “fooled by my college degree.”
Where does the critique come in?
Immediately after that line, he transitions into his critique of an unnamed Black woman who he says is “way smarter” than he is and is angry at all the systems the country is built on and constantly rants on Twitter about it.
He says she’s done all the reading and done all the work to validate her arguments and critiques, but also lashes out at people occasionally. And he felt that one of her Tweets was an affront on him.
And this is where the controversy starts.
Who is he talking about here?
Most people on the internet seem to think he’s talking about Chicago rapper, poet and freedom fighter Noname.
She first jumped on the scene for most people when she appeared on Chance The Rapper’s Acid Rap mixtape. Her music is mostly centered around the Black experience in America — particularly that of Black women — and how she grew up in Chicago.
She doesn’t make music as much anymore, though. Instead, she’s built a whole community through her book club that constantly reads about Black life, struggles and Black advancement.
But wait, Cole didn’t even mention her in the song
Cole didn’t mention her, but she fits the description pretty well.
On top of that, she had a tweet critiquing an also unnamed rapper for not contributing when the George Floyd protests first broke out.
So why are people mad at Cole?
We live in a country where women — particularly Black women — do not feel safe. They are assaulted regularly and their voices are suppressed. Whether Cole intended for it to be or not, this song turned into another form of suppression.
And, considering that this was just days after activist Oluwatoyin Salau was found murdered after she had been sexually assaulted, the timing could not have been worse.
Cole’s critique basically amounted to him telling this educated woman who he says is smarter than him on the issues to educate him instead of talking down on him, which is neither that woman’s job nor her responsibility. Whether it’s Noname or not. Especially after Cole admits openly in the song that he hasn’t done the work to educate himself.
Did Cole apologize?
Well, not really. He said in a Twitter thread this morning that he stands by every word in the song. He also wouldn’t confirm who he was talking about.
However, he did say that he follows Noname and “I love and honor her as a leader in these times” in that same thread. And lauded her for doing the work while critiquing himself for just being a rapper.
That’s not really an apology, though.
Is this a beef?
Nah, it’s definitely not a beef. Maybe a misunderstanding, but not a beef. At some point, hopefully, Cole actually speaks to whoever he’s talking about and clears things up.
But that’s probably what he should’ve done in the first place.