The old adage, the streets dont love you, the hood wont miss you still applies. For all of the social good rapper J.Cole has done by trying to create a balance in hip-hop, preserve some of its fading principles and educate his youthful admirers, his own hood has shown him the ultimate disrespect.
Fans of J. Cole learned of countless stories from his childhood on the critically-acclaimed 2014 Forest Hills Drive LP. This past weekend North Carolina outlets reported that the home Jermaine grew up in was defaced.
Los. on Twitter
do you bro? @JColeNC
Twitter broke the news when one user uploaded a photo of Cole’s former residence. Someone tagged the home with graffiti, writing “J. Cole…Do you even care about the Ville” across it. The Twitter user who posted it then proceeded to ask the lyricist “do you bro? @JColeNC.”
J. Cole spoke in-depth about his childhood homewhich was also featured on the album’s coverduring an episode of The Combat Jack Show in early 2015. According to WRAL, Cole had planned to let families move there “very close to rent-free”, which he disclosed to a podcast in 2015. “Every two years, a new family will move in. Hopefully, by the time they leave, they’ll be in a much better position than they were when they came,” he stated.
The recent incident poses doubt that Cole is fulfilling his plan and also leads to questions about his standing in his old hood and the community he so vividly speaks about as the canvas for creating a dope lyrical reflection on his early life.
Coles career has been on a major upswing lately and it is unfortunate that a part of his personal life was violated. On April 20 he dropped KOD, one of his most critically acclaimed albums to date, going gold in less than a month.
Coles also preparing for a tour with Young Thug, which jumps off on Aug. 9 and hell be holding the first-annual Dreamville festival in his home state of Fayetteville, North Carolina on Sept. 15.
Dreamville Fest on Twitter
Tickets on sale now at https://t.co/rV4zQL6onI #DreamvilleFest https://t.co/F7kr5p49VN
In my opinion, the ticket packages look a bit steep though Cole. Not sure the hood can afford those.
DALIA on Twitter
@JColeNC @Dreamvillefest First thing I did was look at that $400 package. Bank account like bihh if u don’t get the entire fuck outta here.. https://t.co/lqzObW6e8h
In any event, maybe Cole can get back the love by providing a couple hundred free tickets for the fans in his old neighborhood.
