Great analysis! As a long time fan of hip hop music, I’ve spent my entire life being influenced by first the rhythms and the rhymes as a kid, then the hypermasculine messaging as an adolescent/college student, and now finally the deeper cultural analysis offered by artists like Jay-Z, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar and others. I’m happy to see that more artists are evolving the Black narrative and gravitating away from the money, sex, violence, drugs, infidelity and other conventions that the genre is well known for.

It’s unfortunate though that at the end of the day those conventions are a big part of what has heavily defined the genre since the 1980s and without them, to some, it ceases to be hip hop music and is largely ignored by the Black community.

I wish the real messaging of Jay-Z and J. Cole’s latest albums wasn’t so hidden under the sick beats, samples, and flows, and was just all around clearer to the average Black listener who is not necessarily looking for such messaging. But that’s the way it is with true poets and visionaries, few are rarely truly understood, and at the end of the day, the conventional material always sells well.

Fantastic writing! Keep up the good work!