Hip-hop died in 2006. Some of you may have heard Nas' eulogy. The emcees from my childhood — the Jay-Zs, DMXs and Wu-Tangs of the world — remained mostly relevant but lost some of their luster as they struggled to reinvent themselves in a musical world thirsting for corporate beats and catchy choruses. Kanye West and Lil Wayne ruled supreme as much of the hip-hop world lagged behind.
But as the old guard fades out, a new generation of rappers is emerging, one that is bucking the trend of macho thuggery that for so long has run rampant in the genre for so long. At the forefront of this wave is Jermaine Cole, aka J Cole, aka Cole World, aka In A Game Full Of Liars It Turns Out That I'm The Truth. Sunday night, he performed at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel to a sold-out crowd.
After the opening act was booed offstage and threw water on the crowd, Cole's DJ — DJ Dummy — built suspense with an incredibly long, Drake-and-Jay-Z-filled set, after which Cole took the stage to raucous applause.
Much of Cole's material focuses on struggling to make it as a rapper, striving for fame and adoration in the face of overwhelming odds and skeptics. Now, having made it — his album "Cole World: The Sideline Story" debuted at number one on U.S. record sale charts — he seemed a man at peace with the world, genuinely grateful for the adulation, trying to soak up the moment.
Cole opened the concert with his verse from Kanye West's "Looking for Trouble," and from there he moved into a mix of material from his new album and his latest mixtape, "Friday Night Lights," with some verses from his guest spots sprinkled throughout. The crowd went particularly wild during "Work Out" and "In the Morning," as well as "Rise and Shine," one of the gems off his new album. DJ Dummy retired onto a drum-set flanked by two keyboardists, who noodled around between songs as Cole waxed poetic about leaving his North Carolina home to attend college in New York City and chase his dreams.
Cole seemed to genuinely enjoy himself onstage, an enormous boon for an artist of this charisma-demanding genre. He fed off the crowd's energy, and the crowd, in turn, fed off his. He worked hard, chatted between songs, joked and gave individual shout-outs to members of the audience to send us home smiling. Moreover, the audience could hear and understand Cole's words, so punch lines were given their due, new songs were appreciated and lyricism shined alongside rhythm. With songs touching on serious topics — aside from the usual haters, doubters and braggadocio, Cole crooned to ex-lovers, argued from the position of an abandoned pregnant girlfriend and tried to wake the world up — this clarity was crucial.
All in all, Cole absolutely rocked the house. This reporter enjoyed himself immensely. As Cole himself said, "Cole under pressure, what that make? Diamonds."
