The Phenomenon of J-Cole

For major rap fans who are prominent in the hip hop fan club, J-Cole’s “Middle Child” is definitely somewhere on your Spotify playlist. When viewing the rap songs that have left an imprint on pop culture, this song does just that. In his song, J-Cole addresses his concerns of being a part of the “middle generation” within the rap community and includes his critiques of both the old and new hip-hop generations. Middle children in families tend to be viewed as the “odd one out” in society in comparison to the oldest or youngest child, this analogy of middle children in families, and the middle generation in the rap community adds to the importance of this song considering that generational gaps in the rap community from an artist’s perspective is rarely mentioned in music. In his song, he mentions his obligation of having to be an “older brother” to newer artists; 21 Savage, while also being the “little brother” to the greats in rap; Jay-Z (an artist he has looked up to for a long time), and the struggle of balancing the 2 situations. He also takes a stab at fans who continue to put him against other great rappers in the industry; a major one being Drake, while also venting his frustration towards fans not being able to appreciate great artists, and instead, turning it into a competition of who is the “greatest,” a major problem for many artists within the music industry. However, what really ties the whole song together is the ending of the song in which J-Cole uses autotune. For long-time fans of J-Cole, it is commonly known that he hates autotune and has never used it throughout his career; however, at the end, J-Cole bridges together the new and old rap generation by using no auto-tune throughout the song; a common production method used by older generation rappers, but then uses autotune at the very end; a common trend exhibited by newer generation artists, combining both the old and the new with him in the middle of it all. This rap phenomenon takes on problems faced within the rap community, while even addressing fans and certain rappers altogether. As J-Cole said,

“I studied the greats, I’m the greatest right now.”