Analyse af J. Coles 'Wet Dreamz'

J. Cole is considered by many as a more emotional and reflective rapper, acting as an opposite to many of the current day rappers. The German born rapper raised in North Carolina began showing interest in the Hip Hop environment already at a young age and started getting mainstream attention after acknowledged heavy weight rap star Jay Z signed him, as his first signing, to Roc Nation in 2009. Today he is one of the biggest names of the “new school” era, with the release of three platinum certified albums. I have chosen to work with his song” Wet Dreamz” which deals with themes such as image, as in perception of an individual, and expectation in youth culture.

J. Cole structures “Wet Dreamz” very well. He does this with 3 long verses and a repetitive hook in between. He leads with a small intro, timing his verse with the beat and allowing his storytelling to align with the measures. Throughout the rap he doesn’t deviate at all from his original pace and tone set in the start of the rap, even though he emphasizes different beats at different times druing the verses. J. Cole is generally very consistent, even all the verses are precisely the same length. This works well, as it makes the rap easy to follow and listen to due to the recognizable ending in each verse, queuing the hook. The hook consisting of the same phrase repeated 8 times makes it coexist with the verse length as a measure of making the rap feel smooth and well contemplated. J. Cole also manages to rap at a fast pace with many well pronounced words to the 88 bpm tempo, which is generally considered andante. His style is different from the status quo of the “modern era” as he refrains from using samples and relies on his excessive story telling that is his 2014 album “2014 Forest Hill Drive” a tribute to where he grew up.