No More Big 3! What's Cole's Next Move?!?!

No More Big 3! What's Cole's Next Move?!?!

July 11, 2024

If you haven’t read my previous article, scroll down on the freshthoughts2020 tab and check it out. In that article, we discussed whether Kendrick’s feud with Drake might be pointless if he doesn’t aim for the commercial number one spot. With a clear task ahead for Kendrick (whether he follows it or not), we’re left to ask: What is Cole’s next move?

I.Cole's Strong Start in 2024

Cole came into 2024 in a great position in the power rankings and was a strong front-runner to take the lead. He outperformed Drake on “First Person Shooter,” went bar to bar with him again on “Evil Ways” from the “Scary Hours Edition of For All The Dogs,” and just completed a successful national tour.

II.The Apology and Its Aftermath

IMAGE VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES

Cole was set to answer the call when he released his “Might Delete Later” EP. However, moments later, his infamous apology came, leading many people to write him off and not wanting to hear from him for a while. Then he reappeared on the bubbling New York sensation Cash Cobain’s track “Grippy,” which has been regarded as one of Cole’s worst verses. The verse wasn’t even bad, but if it wasn’t mind-blowing post-apology, any verse he penned was going to get panned anyway.

III.The Dismantling of the Big 3

The idea of the Big 3 has been dismantled. The world waits on a new K-dot album, ready to crown him as number one, while the Drizzy hive stands patient awaiting Drake’s inevitable return. Again, what is Cole to do?

IV.The Two-Part Plan for Cole's Comeback

I believe Cole has to do two things to ensure a great comeback and even get his name back into that front-runner conversation. We know he’s been hyping up his album The Fall Off, which is in a worse position post-beef. Here’s what he should do to make sure his album isn’t swept under the rug when it drops.

First, Cole has to address Symba. Why Symba? People may have forgotten about that freestyle he did on the “Control” beat, but it needs to be addressed. He sympathized with letting Nas down but went on to say he left Bas and Cozz down, the whole squad down. He slammed him for the apologies. Cole has to address how he didn’t have to clout beef with Kendrick, and most importantly, he has to spank Symba for even thinking he can say that. There are a few angles he can go with, but I probably shouldn’t reveal that. If Cole is capable like I know he is, he should know the angles too. There are plenty of lyricists who will probably make fun of that apology moving forward with general bars, but he needs to make Symba the poster child of what happens when you disrespect Cole.

He needs to do this because Symba has enough lyrical respect from peers and elder statesmen of hip-hop that he’s worth addressing, and because Symba doesn’t threaten Cole in popularity. It’s like Pusha T with Drake. Symba can scorch Cole until he’s blue in the face, but modern rap is a popularity contest, and Cole would never lose that. However, for this to be effective, Cole would have to scorch Symba as if he’s going up against JAY-Z himself—no mercy! If Cole does this, half of the two-part plan to dominance will be secured by everyone taking mental notes: “Maybe we shouldn’t mess with this guy; that apology stuff doesn’t really mean anything.”

The second thing Cole must do is very simple: hits on hits! He has to get into his Forest Hills bag. That’s far from my favorite project from him, but it’s his most commercially successful album, and his sound isn’t compromised! He should re-listen to that album hard while creating The Fall Off and study the singles from Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life. He needs smashes—songs for the radio!

With these two things working in unison, we’ll quickly forget the same people saying they “...never want to hear him again,” “he’s soft,” blah blah, will be the same people saying “oh Cole’s the G.O.A.T., Cole’s the G.O.A.T.”

These are only suggestions, and he can take these suggestions and stuff them up Rubi Rose’s ass for all he cares. But if he still cares and wants to get back in that conversation, he’s got to do something along these lines. It’s not even much, but it’ll be more than enough. Trust!

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IF KENDRICK DOESN’T DO THIS THE BEEF WAS POINTLESS

IF KENDRICK DOESN’T DO THIS THE BEEF WAS POINTLESS

June 23, 2024

This was an article I was thinking about doing for a little minute but I’m glad I didn’t get around to it until after the “pop out” show.

Let me start by stating the obvious, the show was amazing from start to finish, it was basically everything you wanted out the show.

I didn’t have many critiques but if I had to have one it would be maybe keeping the aggression a little bit in the show after opening with Euphoria. I called it before it started that he would open with Euphoria because I knew he would want to set the tone.

Then going into DNA and ELEMENT made sense if you apply today’s debacle within those lyrics but when they came on, I was kinda like “uhh I don’t wanna hear this right now”.

I was #TeamDrizzy, but if I’m going to watch an aftermath beef concert (no pun intended) then I wanna see smoke the whole time you know lol.

I can’t really think of any replacement songs so he probably made the right decision. Anyways, so he ends the night with the obvious smash “not like us” which he’s shooting the video to this weekend.

Now with all that said, I’m still here thinking what did Kendrick get in this beef for? From the outside looking in I can tell Drake entertained this because he respect the emcee code and he’s never backed down from a challenge. So when Dot finally came with a direct hit after years of subs, of course Aubrey would answer the call.

But I can’t figure out why Dot wanted this smoke with Drake so bad. I feel like Dot was used as a proxy vehicle to make a permanent chink in Drake’s Canadian armor.

I’m not saying he doesn’t have a real personal gripe with him but I am saying other people in the industry used their gripe as an opportunity to launch onto his in an effort to get the Boy outta here.

Everybody is riding the Dot wave but I swear I don’t remember people glazing cuz this hard when Mr Morale dropped. When I heard that album I was praising it nonstop in fact I was even saying that after that release artist should think twice about what they drop next because Kendrick got so deep in his substance bag it wasn’t the time to release music with nothing worth while in it. 

Really it was a truly great album that hit plenty deeper than the surface topics, but like I said people were not riding the wave that hard. In fact they was flat out calling the album trash. By people I mean the casuals because obviously his core rocked with it, he just completed a worldwide tour. 

I can tell you exactly why the casuals thought it was trash because the album did not contain a commercial hit. After releasing a DAMN, people wanted more of that sound and Mr.Morale was not that instead you learned his auntie was a man now.

The casuals made this whole battle annoying , people were saying anything and was literally regurgitating points. Someone said to me “Drake isn’t black”, I’m like he’s literally black and Jewish.

The narratives that were allowed to get push during this beef was out of control and the casuals already decided Drake’s fate so anything half way decent from his enemies would be enough to rally behind.

Though the casuals were annoying, they also play a key position in Dot’s career moving n forward. Basically they’re like swing states in politics, he already won the casuals over but he can extra secure him if his next album is a pure commercial effort.

Which brings me back to the “why” of this beef.

If this beef was to just show he can rap better than Drake or that he’s more cultured than Drake then this beef was a waste of time.

Beefs of this caliber should be only for one thing and that’s for determining rank and elevating career status. This is like a ranked match in Tekken, you’re fighting to move up not to look cool.

Yes we can say Kendrick “won” this battle. But the way he wins the war is by dropping his most commercial album to date, if he’s not trying to become “Drake” then what is he doing? 

His next effort needs to be dumbed down, a whole album of “Not Like Us”, he sprinkled in a tiny bit of Pulitzer Kendrick on there but kept it digestible. He may have put a dent in Drake’s armor but Drake is still number one even after all this because no matter how many jokes are thrown his way, everything comes down to music.

How many Dot records you’re going to hear while out vs Drake. Not saying he don’t have club records just ask yourself how many you’re going to hear? Fasure you will hear his biggest one but the moment for Not Like Us will pass and what will Dot do then? It’s a million Drake records you can choose before you throw on Swimming Pools or something beloved.

I believe the most last longing effect from this battle is the destruction of the big 3. The Big 3 is done you even see it don’t mean anything in sports anymore either.

Right now it’s 1A and 1B. Drake is 1A. Dot is 1B.

Everybody else find their place in line. The only way Dot becomes 1A is dropping his most commercially digestible  album to date THIS YEAR! I might be willing to give him to next year but dog if you do all this and take three years off don’t come back talking that number one talk. 

He’s talented enough to make a timely album he don’t need a hundred years to conceptualize like people make it seem, he just chooses to be mysterious. 

He talking about sometimes you gotta “Pop Out” he better pop out with an album or it’s gon look like you only pop out to diss the boy. When we ain’t heard from him in years after DAMN, he pops back up on Keem record and he start talking about he smoking on people TOP 5. 

Alright Dot you got exactly what you wanted you caught the Boy slippin and snuck you in a dub. Now you better finish the job foreal or don’t come back another three years wasting everybody time with this again.

And as far as what Drake should do to stop Kendrick from getting number one. He should focus making his best music and not dissing him.

Make good songs then when it’s album time get back to dissing the living hell out of him. Get at him on album cuts. But the music wins always. If Dot want that number one spot he gon have to follow up with music for the masses or just settle for being the people’s champ. I guess that’s worth something but is it really? The people turn at the drop of dime, let him do something they don’t think behooves the “culture”, his ass gon be tooted on a silver spike too Lmao.

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ART AND JESUS: Is it sacrilegious or can we respect the artistic integrity.

ART AND JESUS

APRIL 13, 2023

I.THE CROWN OF THORNS

Kendrick Lamar during his Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers Tour

Is it sacrilegious or can we respect the artistic integrity. I was watching a recent Kdot performance during his Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers run and was noticing he was wearing a diamond crown of thorns, which I believe he wore on the album cover.

As I was watching it, I scrolled through the comments and was noticing a lot of people were concerned about Kendrick’s crown and felt like he was making a mockery of Jesus. The crown look aesthetically cool but I started having the same concerns. I think in order to crack this we have to go back what the crown of thorns actually meant in reference to Jesus.

In the Bible the crown of thorns were definitely a symbol of mockery.

28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.

29 And they platted a crown of thorns and put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!

30 And they spat upon him, and took the reed and smote him on the head.

31 And when they had mocked him, they took off from him the robe, and put on him his garments, and led him away to crucify him.

Matthew 27:28-31

As you can see the crown of thorns meant no good when it was placed upon Jesus’ head. Yet you see images of Kdot, the Makaveli album cover (which did it says it did not intend to be a mockery on the cover), and even the Kanye Rolling Stone cover where he was depicted as if he were crucified. I think I can understand what these artists are at least trying to portray.

I think each artist is expressing the criticism and trials that comes with their position of influence. I guess extreme public criticism could in essence feel like a crucifixion. Which is probably a logical/sensible comparison since crucifixion was a common way of public humiliation back in the day.

I believe the issues become though nothing they go through can compare to THEE crucifixion (Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice) and it is probably unwise to compare anything to it. Jesus was completely without fault, unjustly destroyed, and decided to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the world from itself.

II.UNJUST COMPARISON

Stop me if I’m wrong but does any of the artists I named contributions amount to something like that?I’ll answer for you, no! So it begs the question why do people continue to do stuff like this? Every generation has an artist and will have an artist that tries to recreate something related to the crucifixion of Jesus but I can’t understand what pushes people to do that besides the earlier point I made. So back to my earlier question, do we respect the artistic integrity or classify the things these artists do as a smack in the face to Christ himself? Bottom line, I can’t find myself that the artists I named had deliberate ill intent in their heart but I know there are other artists out there who have done the same thing who had full intentions to be a mocker!

Though I cannot find deliberate ill intent I can stand on the fact that things like this may be best avoided. Our hardships and criticism just simply don’t compare to what Jesus suffered, even though we can use his suffering as teaching tool on how to deal with suffering, we should never think we have paid ultimate price of suffering as he did especially when it comes to music & arts.

Even I had a line that went “… five stars where they keep us and I wear the same crown that they gave Jesus” and I pretty much meant what I said earlier, the line was meant to show people mocked and criticized me and didn’t think I wasn’t as esteemed as I portrayed myself. But today I probably wouldn’t say a line like that after going through the process of writing this article and realizing what I was saying. So yeah moving forward lets probably stop using Jesus’ execution as a metaphor for our life’s suffering because the comparison is really nonexistent when you think about it.

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HOW RECENCY BIAS WILL AFFECT THE NEW KENDRICK RELEASE.

HOW RECENCY BIAS WILL AFFECT THE NEW KENDRICK RELEASE.

APRIL 18, 2022.

“Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” 5.13. 22

I. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE…

It was a snowy day in Michigan. As expected during this time because we have 80 months of winter and 1 week of summer. Anywho, your mans was just scrolling down his time, when I see a press release posted on Elliott Wilson page. First thing I see was the “PgLang” header, I said “uh huh..” then I see a release date and an album title?!?! Oh its serious time! The one whom they call Kendrick Lamar is returning?

After so long since the Pulitzer Prize winning album DAMN. released, no one really knows what to expect from the TDE veteran. What I do know is this album is the MOST IMPORTANT RELEASE in his discography! Why? Ok here it is..

II. J. COLE’S STRONG CLAIM FOR NUMBER ONE!

Since the mid 2010s hip hop has held the trifecta of Drake, J.Cole, & Kendrick Lamar as the three headed monster of the greatest current mc,s. The number one spot has been constantly interchangeable based on the performances throughout the years from the big 3. Drizzy is always my favorite personal number one but I’d be. a lying fool if I don’t give Jermaine Cole his credit.

Now Jermaine has been running circles around people since about 2018. He’s the new school feature king, he’s been consistently releasing great albums, and he’s on fire as an executive. J. Cole took a strong lead to me when he strategically released the Dreamville compliation mixtape “D-DAY w/ DJ DRAMA” to coincide with his own festival and when he dropped that monster verse on BIA’s new single “LONDON”. Cole clearly made his claim for top position and Drizzy is always drizzy, where does that leave Kendrick?

III.AN ACTIVE KENDRICK?!?!!?

We got a preview of the innovation to come when K.Dot gave us the tractor trailer flow on Baby Keem records and we see the executive moves he making by breaking away from his home label to start his own enterprise. However we can’t act like those years of inactivity haven’t affected K.Dot in a negative way. Now a person with sense will argue that Kendrick’s quality is so top tier he doesn’t need to have the same output as his peers. That person would be right because Kendrick’s legacy is cemented and you cannot take away those classic albums but how can we honestly say he number one when Drizzy and even Cole kept their foot on the pedal, staying active and creating moments while K.Dot is chilling with his family getting his hair braided.

www.oklama.com

So how will recency bias affect K.Dot now? If Kendrick new album meet people’s expectations let alone surpass it, people are gonna undoubtedly says he’s number one and no one is messing with him! Which will be an over-exaggeration because this one album no matter how good it is can’t put him over Cole and Drake, he been too inactive!! This album must be the beginning of a run! I mean a serious run! He gotta drop fire, Baby keem gotta follow up with fire, we need new PgLang artists to debut, and shorter gaps between Kendrick release! He has to go on a tear!

Now if the album is whack….that is literally the worst thing that can happen for him. Because people are going to act like Section.80 or To Pimp A Butterfly don’t exist then they’re going to act like it was blasphemous to compare him to Cole and Drizzy in the first place. Let’s get this clear no matter how whack this album is it cannot end K.Dot’s career! People still don’t have a Good Kid Maad City in their catalog.

Image via ID Magazine

The BS starting already lmao

So that’s really it man, the album don’t release until May 13, 2022 so in the meantime prepare to see the wildest takes and even on release date prepare to see the most bs, good and bad, you ever seen. What are you expecting from this album? Do he need features? What about Production? Let me know how you feel beloved, thanks for reading!!

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o-doylerules:

I don’t even smoke.