Cole artistically laid out drug addiction, addiction to social media, alcohol, sex, and money
These vices are rampant in our society today and have been glorified in hip hop for years. Decades. He showed the reality of using these vices to cope and the better ways we can cope with the struggles life brings us
Honest music like this needs to be celebrated in hip hop especially since we've seen so many rappers themselves fall victim to their vices. I feel like alot of people heard the album after it came out but didn't really listen to what he was saying on it. In the years to come, KOD will eventually gets the appreciation it deserves
Edit: 2023
These vices are rampant in our society today and have been glorified in hip hop for years. Decades. He showed the reality of using these vices to cope and the better ways we can cope with the struggles life brings us
He gave the listener a look inside the mindset of an addict addicted to each of these vices. The most gripping and in depth was the song Once An Addict where he paints the picture of his mother being addicted to alcohol
He gives you her perspective and his perspective as he's caught in between wanting to help and wanting to escape the guilt of watching her fall to her vices. This leads to him smoking weed to cope and eventually "running" away from her problems. Leaving for college
FRIENDS is the penultimate track where he speaks to those struggling to cope with their demons and resorting to vices. The "meditate don't medicate" is seen as preachy but it's so important. Instead of coping through unhealthy vices, cope through meditation. As hard as that may be for alot of people, it's one of the best ways to battle your demons and truly find peace
That message is what needs to be broadcasted in hip hop today. On the last song Window Pain he shows you an in depth real life example of how falling to your vices can not only lead to your demise but to others as well. Permanently affecting those not even related to you
At the end the little girl gives her reason for why bad things like this happen in the world
Cole ends the album with her explanation and a voice saying "KOD, Choose Wisely"
Religion is controversial. He gave you this little girl's way of coping with the trauma of her cousin being shot. Meditation, therapy, and religion are three of the most healthy and positive ways to "kill our demons"
These three aren't the easiest to replace unhealthy coping mechanisms with. Especially for someone who's addicted to them. This is why throughout the album, there's a voice that says "Choose Wisely".
Instead of preaching about how drugs are bad and finding inner peace is good on the whole album, he displayed the addictions, why we use them, what happens when we fall into the cycle of relying on them, how we can affect other people through these vices, and how we can be better people and find happiness in spite of them
We all have our ways in coping with our trauma and hardships we face in life. He showed you the bad ways to cope and the good ways to cope
Choose Wisely
He gives you her perspective and his perspective as he's caught in between wanting to help and wanting to escape the guilt of watching her fall to her vices. This leads to him smoking weed to cope and eventually "running" away from her problems. Leaving for college
FRIENDS is the penultimate track where he speaks to those struggling to cope with their demons and resorting to vices. The "meditate don't medicate" is seen as preachy but it's so important. Instead of coping through unhealthy vices, cope through meditation. As hard as that may be for alot of people, it's one of the best ways to battle your demons and truly find peace
That message is what needs to be broadcasted in hip hop today. On the last song Window Pain he shows you an in depth real life example of how falling to your vices can not only lead to your demise but to others as well. Permanently affecting those not even related to you
At the end the little girl gives her reason for why bad things like this happen in the world
Cole ends the album with her explanation and a voice saying "KOD, Choose Wisely"
Religion is controversial. He gave you this little girl's way of coping with the trauma of her cousin being shot. Meditation, therapy, and religion are three of the most healthy and positive ways to "kill our demons"
These three aren't the easiest to replace unhealthy coping mechanisms with. Especially for someone who's addicted to them. This is why throughout the album, there's a voice that says "Choose Wisely".
Instead of preaching about how drugs are bad and finding inner peace is good on the whole album, he displayed the addictions, why we use them, what happens when we fall into the cycle of relying on them, how we can affect other people through these vices, and how we can be better people and find happiness in spite of them
We all have our ways in coping with our trauma and hardships we face in life. He showed you the bad ways to cope and the good ways to cope
Choose Wisely
Honest music like this needs to be celebrated in hip hop especially since we've seen so many rappers themselves fall victim to their vices. I feel like alot of people heard the album after it came out but didn't really listen to what he was saying on it. In the years to come, KOD will eventually gets the appreciation it deserves
Edit: 2023
He didn't make this album for you to play in the whip mindlessly. This isn't party music
This was way more important than that irrelevant "listenable" narrative the critics spew. This project was supposed to be hard to listen to
To my niggas --- I hope you listening / --- and ---, I hope you listening
“FRIENDS” is written as a kind of letter of advice about drug abuse to J Cole’s protege and contemporaries. In these lines he directly addresses certain individuals, with the sound reversed on the studio version to censor the namedrops. Fans decoded it as being his brother Zach and in-house...genius.com
Legendary shyt. GOAT shyt
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