J. Cole Takes New Wave Rappers to Task on “1985 (Intro to ‘The Fall Off’)”
J. Cole's new album, KOD, is already getting a ton of attention from the music community today, but one of the project's standout tracks come with the final record, "1985 (Intro to 'The Fall Off')." The song, which features the Fayetteville, N.C. rap star delivering rhymes in one straight verse without a hook, sends a strong message to today's new wave rappers while hinting at another project on the horizon.
While some fans are speculating that the "Intro" title of the song could be leading to a new project called The Fall Off, others believe that the song serves as a message to an anonymous young rapper whose falloff in success could be on the way if they don't look at the bigger picture of their career.
Cole kicks his verse off by rapping about the critique that rising young hip-hop stars face, admitting that he thought the same way that they did when he was their age. He also calls out those that are faking their "woke" attitudes, whether it be in their music or on their platforms.
"Everybody say the music that they make is dumb/I remember I was 18/Money, pussy, parties, I was on the same thing," he rhymes. "You gotta give a boy a chance to grow some/Everybody talkin' like they know somethin' these days/Niggas actin' woke, but they broke, um/I respect the struggle but you all frontin' these days."
Further into the song, a lot of fans are speculating that the 4 Your Eyez Only rapper is speaking directly to Lil Pump, whose "Fuck J. Cole" diss track previously surfaced online. While Cole doesn't mention any specific name, he does seem to address a young rapper with a "funky lil' rap name."
"I'm fuckin' with your funky lil' rap name/I hear your music and I know that rap's changed," he spits. "A bunch of folks would say that that's a bad thing/'Cause everything's commercial and it's pop now/Trap drums is the shit that's hot now."
While he shows praise and support for the young anonymous artist coming up, despite how he may feel about their actual music, Cole then tries to serve a lesson to them as well. He raps about kids growing older and growing out of their musical style, which will slow up the money stream for the currently-successful rapper who is "ridin' trends."
"One day, them kids that's listening gon' grow up/And get too old for that shit that made you blow up," Cole continues. "Now your show's lookin' light cause they don't show up/Which unfortunately means the money slow up/Now you scramblin' and hopin' to get hot again/But you forgot you only popped 'cause you was ridin' trends."
Whether this is meant to be a diss or not, it looks like new age rappers could learn a lot from Cole's new record.
Take a listen to "1985 (The Intro to 'The Fall Off')" below.
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