"MIDDLE CHILD" - J. Cole Review

Last week, North Carolina rapper J. Cole tore down his Instagram profile, stripping it of all prior posts and memories. In doing so, he posted four seemingly eerie pictures, each with a short message.

"I'm making a list."

"I'm writing down names."

"I'm loading my clips."

"I'm counting my bullets."

Fans' anticipation grew immensely after seeing this and shortly after, Cole announced his newest song "MIDDLE CHILD" would be releasing Wednesday night. Sure enough, he delivered and did not disappoint.

The song revolves around Cole's vision of his displacement in hip-hop's current state. Originally, he was a student of his elder's like Jay-Z and Nas but with a new wave of young artists on the horizon, he realizes that he has evolved into the middle man of the genre. Too young to be idolized like Biggie and Pac but too old to be penciled in under the hair-dying, face-tattooing class, he feels like he's in quite the rut.

The song uses a French horn type beat constructed by producer T-Minus. On first listen, I almost thought it was identical to the second half of Logic's "ICONIC" of his YSIV project. Nonetheless, it's unique in its own way. He opens the track with the four lines he posted on his Instagram in reverse order and states how "The game is off balance, I'm back on my s***". Following this, the first comparison to the younger generation is made. Cole raps about how he refrains from drug use, unlike teenage stars like Lil Pump and company. It's a nice call back to a song like "1985 - Intro to 'The Fall Off'", where he offers fair warnings to the mumble rap community and their reckless lifestyles.

Cole then switches into how he balances his friends and money in his life. He only feels like he is winning if everyone he cares for around him is succeeding, too. Whether it be sitting in first class on a plane or stuffing some extra cash into their pockets, Cole is making sure everyone at his table is eating. After a quick shoutout to Drake about a gifted watch, he dives into the topic that people tried to pin the two against one another. Plenty of rumors and speculation have surfaced about the two but both artist are friends, no matter how many ways the community tries to twist it. In the event where Cole did want to feud with another rapper, he states it would want to be on his terms and not off the idea of popularity or shoe sales. A quick jab at Kanye West? Who knows.

Next, he addresses the rock and hard place he is wedges between. He acknowledges his gratitude toward the youngsters and hopes they rake in as much money as possible before it is all said and done, then extends his praise to his own idols. After studying old school flows, cadences, lyricism, and more, Cole has finally established a fanbase so solid, he does not even have to promo himself to gain commercial success.

He experiments on the chorus, using autotune to illustrate multiple addictions. From drinking lean to become consumed by money, he traces back to his 2018 album KOD, a project all about these addictions. Once again, he is not throwing out any disses to anyone, he is simply sliding wisdom to the new school rappers. "Money in your palm don't make you real...Pistol in your hand don't make you real".

The second verse tells us how Cole is literally in the middle of the rap era, going from a studio session with 21 Savage to grabbing lunch with Hov. A meeting with Kodak Black showed Cole how similar he is to rappers from his hometown, Fayetteville, NC. With a little guidance and someone to keep them in line, there would be less people in jail or dead. He emphasizes how similar they all really are, aside from all the wealth and such. If they stopped putting up these fake images of a persona they are not, the "real" rappers will prevail. Look at Tekashi 6ix9ine. After getting a few charges on racketeering and more, he is currently facing life in prison. When the case began to surface online, Tekashi's team made a statement how the gangster, loud-mouth thug image he portrays online is simply a facade, which ultimately landed him behind bars.

"MIDDLE CHILD" is a very good song in its on right, but I feel like it is even stronger when accompanied by "1985 - Intro to 'The Fall Off'". Both share similar views and if the both end up on Cole's upcoming project, fans are in store for an amazing project. I really enjoyed the view he has of himself in rap's current state, as he is such praised artist who still feels like he has more to accomplish.

Rating; 8/10