The big news today was the leak of the J. Cole album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive. You can listen to three of the new tracks, 'January 28th, 'Wet Dreamz,' and 'A Tale of 2 Citiez,' here. But there is another song, 'Fire Squad,' that is raising provocative questions about race and Hip Hop.
In the track, Cole raps:
Same thing that my nigga Elvis did with Rock n Roll Justin Timberlake, Eminem, and then Macklemore While silly niggas argue over who gone snatch the crown Look around my nigga white people have snatched the sound This year I’ll prolly go to the awards dappered down Watch Iggy win a Grammy as I try to crack a smile I'm just playin', but all good jokes contain true shitWhile some are claiming Cole 'dissed' Timberlake, Eminem and Macklemore, it seems to be a bit more complicated than that. (Iggy is a different story.)
Instead, he is commenting that white artists, including Emimem and the rest, have a history of appropriating black musical styles. He's also saying that, in the case of Hip Hop today, they have successfully 'snatched the sound' for themselves. Do you agree?