(Source: Flickr / flowinlikeanocean)
blue skies
Remmy Valenzuela - Sa Va Muriendo Mi Alma
J. Cole - Can I Holla At Ya
This is my favorite song off of J. Cole’s new mixtape Truly Yours. The day after it released I deemed it a modern day hip-hop classic. The mixtape is only 5 (technically 6) songs in length, but each song is so lyrically dense it left me in awe the first time I gave this mixtape a playthrough on datpiff. Each song, especially Can I Holla At Ya, represents some of the best story telling in hip-hop, ever. This song is on par with what Nas accomplished on Illmatic in terms of how hard his flow goes yet how much emotional depth and lyrical profundity gets woven into each verse. This song and Illmatic are just very different styles of hip-hop.
I also really like how J. Cole decided to make the chorus very simplistic in nature. It gives you the sense that he has a lot of emotion and history invested into asking these three important individuals in his life that he hasn’t seen in a very long time “hey, can I holla at ya?”. You can’t sugar coat such a personal question…it needs to sound stripped down, raw, and straight from the heart. Hip-hop in it’s realest form. I really hope J. Cole continues making astonishing works that match the quality seen on Truly Yours. His earlier mixtapes are better than his newer works (his album), and this mixtape is by far the best thing he has ever released. I also highly recommend you listen to this song at least once while reading along with the lyrics.
—————————————————————————
My Song Rating: 10 out of 10
In Case You Missed This Modern Day Classic
When they say “not all white people”