Why do Drake stans feel so threatened by J. Cole?

In real life.....Drake and J. Cole share the exact same fan base.

Drake vs J. Cole is strictly internet

In real life.....Drake and J. Cole share the exact same fan base.

Drake vs J. Cole is strictly internet

what chances is drake seriously taking?

people may say j.cole's is safe but drake's isn't so out there to the point where he is risking a flop with it

future took more of a risk than he did

Are you kidding me?

Name a rapper sans Kanye on his 4th album with 808s, that came out with something like Thank Me Later and managed to have as much success as Drake did?

...Then do it again with Take Care?

Cudi could also be thrown in there if you want.

Hell, even Drake's new single doesn't sound like anything else out.

J Cole sound like he wanted another "All I Want Is You" and "Lotus Flower b0mb". No diss to him cause the new song is the best things he's put out since Friday Night Lights, but come on now.

Are you kidding me?

Name a rapper sans Kanye on his 4th album with 808s, that came out with something like Thank Me Later and managed to have as much success as Drake did?

...Then do it again with Take Care?

Cudi could also be thrown in there if you want.

Hell, even Drake's new single doesn't sound like anything else out.

J Cole sound like he wanted another "All I Want Is You" and "Lotus Flower b0mb". No diss to him cause the new song is the best things he's put out since Friday Night Lights, but come on now.

Are you kidding me?

Name a rapper sans Kanye on his 4th album with 808s, that came out with something like Thank Me Later and managed to have as much success as Drake did?

...Then do it again with Take Care?

Cudi could also be thrown in there if you want.

Hell, even Drake's new single doesn't sound like anything else out.

J Cole sound like he wanted another "All I Want Is You" and "Lotus Flower b0mb". No diss to him cause the new song is the best things he's put out since Friday Night Lights, but come on now.

To each his own on the new single, flow wasn't as lazy as usual but everything else still seemed lacking to me.. which is what sets the main difference between Cole and Drake to me. Drake's rapping (content aside) is just as good as when he got on and has even improved in some areas, mainly flow and delivery. I've hardly gotten any of that with Cole and that EP did nothing to change my opinion on his recent work.

It's not regression, he just found his footing musically. There's no need to rap like Phonte when he's not making that type of music anymore. He's been said since the creation of SFG he wanted to blend R&B with Hip hop. TML was a regression but he grew from that mishap and comeback making quality music his fans expected from his mixtape days. Even his seem just as good as ever.

Like I said, his content wouldn't sit well with everyone. I'm not going to defend him saying he started from the bottom, but let's not act like this is Rick Ross calling himself a kingpin. He has the ability to make phrases catchy, which is already seen through everyone making their own versions of SFTB.

Such as what specifically? As for the tracks on the EP I'm not sure how you don't see the resemblance of Warm Up Cole in tracks like Crunch Time & Tears For ODB. That's the same emcee you claim you were impressed with so I'm not sure what more you expect from him.

As far as Drake's delivery going he wasn't a slouch on the mic technically all the time:



But the technical aspect is not what I'm talking about. I'll continue on this below...


Well which is it? It either is or it isn't & from Comeback Season with tracks like Lust For Life, Easy To Please, Faded, Closer, Think Good thoughts etc. it's pretty apparent there's a drop off (which technically you already conceded so you agree).

If making combining the genres has the compromise of letting his lyrics suffer I won't let that go by the wayside just for the sake of him wanting to combine the two. It's not like he had to regress lyrically to make successful R&B tracks...


The catchiness doesn't have anything to do with it. I never said Drake couldn't make a hit but if he didn't dumb it down to double his dollars (just like Cole did) he'd be a better emcee. I don't see why Drake gets a pass for this but you won't give Cole a chance at redemption when he's taken the same path Drake has...

Such as what specifically? As for the tracks on the EP I'm not sure how you don't see the resemblance of Warm Up Cole in tracks like Crunch Time & Tears For ODB. That's the same emcee you claim you were impressed with so I'm not sure what more you expect from him.

As far as Drake's delivery going he wasn't a slouch on the mic technically all the time:



But the technical aspect is not what I'm talking about. I'll continue on this below...


Well which is it? It either is or it isn't & from Comeback Season with tracks like Lust For Life, Easy To Please, Faded, Closer, Think Good thoughts etc. it's pretty apparent there's a drop off (which technically you already conceded so you agree).

If making combining the genres has the compromise of letting his lyrics suffer I won't let that go by the wayside just for the sake of him wanting to combine the two. It's not like he had to regress lyrically to make successful R&B tracks...


The catchiness doesn't have anything to do with it. I never said Drake couldn't make a hit but if he didn't dumb it down to double his dollars (just like Cole did) he'd be a better emcee. I don't see why Drake gets a pass for this but you won't give Cole a chance at redemption when he's taken the same path Drake has...

Mainly mic presence, his words have no personality. That may be more subjective so I'm not going to expand on that, but you should be able to hear the difference from his mixtapes to the single.

TML was a regression musically, but it wasn't a repetition from his earlier work. The regression you speak of in comparison from mixtape Drake to post-Take Care Drake isn't there.

A rapping song from SFG (his most acclaimed mixtape)


A rapping song from Take Care (his most recent album)


Where's the regression? His flow is better, his rhymes have more personality, topically he has more coverage. Comeback Season was the typical backpack emceeing content that every rapper since The College Dropout has gone through, SFG was a further look into his personal life, Take Care had similar coverage to SFG but additional content since him becoming a superstar.

The thing is he's not regressing lyrically, from a technical aspect he might be rhyming more words in 2008 but sooner or later that becomes unnecessary once you have your footing on who you are as an emcee. In similar fashion to how Jay-Z stopped using triple time flow when he found his footing with Reasonable Doubt. Even in comparison to his peers, he bodied everyone on Pop That which was one of the biggest hits of 2012, he bodied Rocky and Kendrick rappers on the biggest hit of 2013 so far, and so on. He's progressed as a song-writer which is where he shines most. Almost all his hooks end up becoming hits, for good reason.

Making commercial music just comes more natural to Drake. Do you consider Headlines dumbed down compared to Work Out? I wouldn't consider SFTB dumbed down because he's experimenting a new flow/delivery which is foreign to his fan base.

all they did was take what kanye did(which was successful) and ran with it. what risk did he really take?

been making the same kind of stuff for about 4 years now

TML was a pop album [pic]
Why wouldn't it be successful?

Take Care was made especially for females so of course it would do good.

His new single though>>>>>>>>>
Hopefully Drake goes back to his old style on this new album, while his new single isnt that it still gives me hope.

Mainly mic presence, his words have no personality. That may be more subjective so I'm not going to expand on that, but you should be able to hear the difference from his mixtapes to the single.

TML was a regression musically, but it wasn't a repetition from his earlier work. The regression you speak of in comparison from mixtape Drake to post-Take Care Drake isn't there.

A rapping song from SFG (his most acclaimed mixtape)


A rapping song from Take Care (his most recent album)


Where's the regression? His flow is better, his rhymes have more personality, topically he has more coverage. Comeback Season was the typical backpack emceeing content that every rapper since The College Dropout has gone through, SFG was a further look into his personal life, Take Care had similar coverage to SFG but additional content since him becoming a superstar.

The thing is he's not regressing lyrically, from a technical aspect he might be rhyming more words in 2008 but sooner or later that becomes unnecessary once you have your footing on who you are as an emcee. In similar fashion to how Jay-Z stopped using triple time flow when he found his footing with Reasonable Doubt. Even in comparison to his peers, he bodied everyone on Pop That which was one of the biggest hits of 2012, he bodied Rocky and Kendrick rappers on the biggest hit of 2013 so far, and so on. He's progressed as a song-writer which is where he shines most. Almost all his hooks end up becoming hits, for good reason.

Making commercial music just comes more natural to Drake. Do you consider Headlines dumbed down compared to Work Out? I wouldn't consider SFTB dumbed down because he's experimenting a new flow/delivery which is foreign to his fan base.

So inflection is the reason why you don't want to give him credit for him being his old self lyrically? [pic], pardon me I had to laugh at that...


Musically no it isn't since he's making better overall music now. But I've said from jump street that strictly hip-hop Drake hasn't been in Comeback Season form since...Comeback Season...


Comeback Season >>> So Far Gone, so this comparison is moot because he had already started to go from the CS emcee to the TC emcee.

The only part I can objectively compare is the subject matter range which was an inevitability since he had already started combining the two genres (with two different subject matter ranges).

Strictly Hip-Hop Drake's subject matter seemed more comfortable for him in his CS days. He wasn't trying to force that struggling image, he was just speaking on where he was in life (see: Going for Life) ; aka not trying to make his relationships harder on himself or the "hardships" of the upper middle class life he'd previously lived)...


My point has nothing to do with where Drake is today, it has to do with the road he took in order to get where he is today. You're unimpressed with Cole for dumbing down his lyrics in order to appeal to a broader demographic, yet Drake regressed lyrically from Comeback Season to TML & yet you want to sweep that under the rug.

Drake is 2 albums deep with a 3rd on the way. His first attempt at a mainstream LP was just that, a mainstream LP which was more pop than rap -- similar to Cole World. You're acting as if Drake went straight from Comeback Season to Take Care when that's not the case. He regressed lyrically in order to have the ability to make the music he wanted to make in the first place. Now he's at a place where he can do that. Cole is doing the same thing, but somehow (for like the 5th time) Cole doesn't get a pass for this. Why not?


Experimenting isn't a good enough excuse for me to consider it not being dumbed down, I don't see why it should be. Again if that's the compromise you have to make then call a spade a spade...

I’m a descendent of either Marley or Hendrix
I haven’t figured it out cause my story is far from finished
I’m hearing all of the jokes, I know that they tryna push me
I know that showin’ emotion don’t ever mean I’m a !!
Know that I don’t make music for niccas who don’t get !!
So those are the ones I count on to diss me or overlook me

I'm awful nice, lyrics that I often write
Spyin no talent rappers to get off the mic
And I could pick you up from work when you get off the night
drop you at the house soon as you get off the pike, man
I flow so cool like autumn nights
When I body this, tell me if the coffin's light
but don't try and tell me that a dolphins white
mislead drake that is not at all polite
It's a shame cause that's how the biz goes
Imagine if these other niccas flop and his blows
Bet I get a co-sign somethin like no time
They'll be trynna sub a nicca in like Quizno's

I got a dolla and a dream, real niccas on my team
Everything ain't what it seems
Every lady ain't no hoe, and every !! ain't no queen
Every nicca ain't no dog, and every nicca ain't no king
!! be happening for a reason, everything is everything
Every nicca can't dunk, so white man can jump
They shooting niccas fo' they even tell em put their hands up!
Crooked cops, got a nicca scared to drive probably thinking
that I'm slanging man I see it in their eyes
But inside of my pocket is a dolla plus a dream
Yea you swear your girl is faithful everything ain't what it seems
See I seen how she glance and look away like she want it
I ain't saying I'm a !! her but I could if I wanted
Know it hurts that she flirts with a nicca this is worst
I bet if I was to hit men, I wouldn't be the first
This is church, this is gospel
Spit it like I get from the Bible, for your survival

Up in 1st class, laugh even though it's not funny
See a white man wonder how the !! I got money
While he sit at coach, hate to see me walk past em'
Young black pants sag, headphones blastin'
Know what he askin', "how did he manage?"
"With all the cards against him, he used them to his advantage!"
Slang we be speakin' probably soundin' like Spanish
Then I !! they heads up when a nicca show manners
Some New York niccas thought it was funny callin' us Bamma
Laughin' at the grammar cause they didn't understand us
Must've thought we slow, but little do they know
I came up in here to take advantage of that !! ya'll take for granted
Opportunity that I would k!ll for
Lookin' at rappers like "what the !! you got a deal for?!"
When I was[..]ed out with my funds low
It's nice to know I had the whole world at my front door

In real life.....Drake and J. Cole share the exact same fan base.

Drake vs J. Cole is strictly internet

Well if you enjoy monotone emcees that's you bruh, I can't get with a rapper who's rapping I can't distinguish from any other underground emcee. Writing good lyrics isn't and has never been enough for me to enjoy from a rapper.

Drake not rapping like himself in 2008 doesn't correspond with J. Cole not rapping like himself in 2008. Why? J. Cole is the same artist he was since The Come Up. Same content, same character, same lyrics, etc. With the only difference being he's regressed in all those areas. There's no reason for him to have gotten worse since he's taken no innovation into evolving to something else. Drake isn't the backpacker you listened to in 2008, almost everything about him has changed which explains why he's not spitting the !! you heard before.

Notice, there's a huge difference in how he writes. If you never heard Drake, you'd think two different rappers with different lives wrote these. Now compare these verses.

In 3 years, there's little to no difference in how he's evolved as a rapper. Which is why when I say he's not as good as him old self, it's a bigger insult than saying Drake isn't his old self because he's progressed in other areas as an emcee.

TML wasn't very good and there's no need to sweep that under the rug, he's already made up for that with Take Care + his rapping since. J. Cole still hasn't done that, if his sophomore is nice as TC then I'll swallow my words, even though I highly doubt that.

I wasn't giving Drake a pass, I didn't even become a fan until Take Care. But he had already been impressing me before he threw out his lead single.

Displaying flows he had never used before, new found 'swag' in his presence, going over production he's never touched before. Cole's already thrown out 2 singles and I still feel the same way about him as I did before.

It's not dumbing down if you're experimenting with new sounds, you have to try new techniques in order to see what works. SFTB is a new flow/delivery to his arsenal i which his fan base was foreign to. Work Out was noting new to Cole besides sounding sluggish on the mic. If he could sound nice on Missy's Best Friend beat, there's no reason he couldn't sound nice on Work Out.