Paul Dennis Jr
5/4/2021
Capstone Final Paper
Dr. Jennifer Hughes
4 Your Eyez Only Analysis
Jermaine Lamarr Cole, famously known as J. Cole, has been one of the most popular,
successful, and talented musical artists of the last decade. His discography features eight BET
Hip Hop Awards, three Soul Train Music Awards, a Billboard Music Award, and even a highly
coveted Grammy. Cole set a then record – held for 54 years by the Beatles – for the most songs
in the top twenty of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, managing to get ten. He’s also
managed to go platinum on each of his last three studio released albums without a single feature
on any of them.
With a net worth of 60 million dollars, his rise has been an amazing story to follow,
especially considering how he’s used his platform to speak on some very serious topics. Not only
has Cole been vocal about issues of his time when speaking in public venues, but he has
successfully woven his concerns and observations into his productions; giving millions of
African Americans a space to emphasize and relate on our experiences, express trauma, and
bring attention to some of the pressing issues of modern-day America. This socially, politically,
and culturally aware way of spreading awareness and expressing ideas and feelings through
music has been utilized since before the origin of HipHop itself. But it is the combination of
HipHop/Rap and societal consciousness that has created a powerful sub-genre given the name
“Conscious Rap”.
The origin of this genre stems from the Black Power movement of the 60’s and early
70’s. The advocates of this ideal believed in self-sufficiency, racial pride, and equality for black
people, and the waves from the impact can be seen in the music that transpired during that time
period. For anyone not living in New York in the early 70’s, HipHop was likely something
unheard of. But it built momentum and hit mainstream outlets as time passed, and at the turn of
the decade there was new ways it was implemented and expressed.
Released in 1982, the first successful song containing conscious rap was Grandmaster
Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message”. It was an extremely influential hip-hop track
speaking on violence, poverty, and the lives of the lower class and urban poor. The hook – “It’s
like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from going under,” – is Grandmaster
Flash communicating what life in New York could be like for him and many others who
struggled day-to-day. The jungle is wild, dangerous, and riddled with death – and so were the
streets of New York in the 80’s. This first success would be the catalyst for thousands of songs
that would join the genre and begin to bring attention to the societal problems of America.
Talented young artists flooded the board in the following 80’s and 90’s, taking their own influx
of style and swagger and contributing to the up-and-coming genre. Conscious Rappers and
socially aware artist groups like Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-ONE, and Slick Rick
dominated the mid-to-late 80’s. These figures were followed by 2Pac, Most Def, NWA, Rakim,
Common, and Goodie Mob – all big influencers and contributors to conscious rap from 1988-
1996 (also known as the Golden Era of HipHop). The tradition continued into next decade as
even more artists stepped on to the scene, left their mark, and helped masses of oppressed
African Americans by giving them a way to comfortably express discontent with the
circumstances. Jay-Z, Kanye, and Nas are all conscious artists who considered some of the best
and most successful rappers in history, and thrived during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.
Needless to say, those named and countless others left a resounding legacy and impact on
the art of hip-hop, and repeatedly succeeded in bringing focus to important topics and issues. J-
Cole, arriving on the scene in 2009 with his debut album The Warm Up, aimed to do his part in
bringing awareness and attention to important subjects and highlighting the racially driven issues
still prevalent in the 21st century. He often garnered comparisons to Nas as he developed and
released more music, for similarity in style and conscious lyrics. According to Cole, Nas and
Tupac were huge inspirations to him as he developed as a writer and lyricist, referring to them
both as legends on multiple occasions. On Cole’s 2013 album there was even a song called “Let
Nas Down”, where he details the despair he felt when Nas vocalized his disapproval of one of
Cole’s songs. Now, about twelve years since his debut album, Cole stands as one of the most
diverse and widely respected artists in the game – undeniably one of the best conscious rappers
to ever do it, and he isn’t done yet.
In this article I will be exploring the 2016 J. Cole song “4 Your Eyez Only” (which also
is the name of the album) from both the Psychoanalytic Critical Theory and African American
Criticism standpoints. Cole is one of the most popular and well-known rappers from our time,
and he is often recognized for his ability at speaking about issues far more important than the
average 21 century rapper. In his song “4 Your Eyez Only”, he openly addresses some of the
biggest social and psychological issues that many from the black community struggle with, but
by telling a story about one of his friends who fell victim to the system, from his perspective. It
might also be worth saying that “4 Your Eyez Only” is a title track to a larger project; an album
that the song was released as a part of. Being as though the work was a concept album, there is
likely a lot of analyzing that won’t be covered in relation to the album as a whole. Analyzing the
entire album and all of its intertwined meanings and themes would take likely hundreds of
pages, so this essay will only divulge into the single. I also left a copy of the complete lyrics at the end
of this paper.
From what we’ve learned, the Psychoanalytic Critical Theory has many different
concepts that should be prevalent in a text, if one is not forcing the theory to fit it. A few
examples of these that also apply to the text “4 For Eyez Only” would be “the unconscious vs the
conscious”, “the meaning and fear of death”, “denial and displacement”, “inferiority complex”,
“defense mechanisms”, “anxiety issues”, “the Id”, and “sexual energy”. We also went over
African American Criticism (one of my personal favorites), and this particular theory intertwines
with a lot of the same undertones as the J Cole song. Some of the concepts that apply to the text
would be racism, racialism, unconscious racism, institutionalized racism, the social construct of
race, eurocentrism, white privilege, double-consciousness, racial oppression, and equality theory.
The first part of the song I’d like to bring attention to is in the first few lines. Cole starts
off with a very hard and direct statement – “Hey, niggas be dying on the daily, it seems my
dreams faded for far too long, the consequence is deadly.” Cole says that black men are dying
on the daily, and he says it kind of lightly and easily because we – as a community – are
becoming more desensitized to death. When not even considering the nuances that accompany
living and growing up in the hood, African Americans statistically encounter the stressor of
death at a disproportionate rate. According to (CITE) Umberson (2017), This is a unique stressor
for black Americans in a few general ways, considering earlier and more death exposures for
black people causes us to associate being black with vulnerability and feeling threatened. There’s
also racial discrimination, which sabotages black health and causes lower life expectancy. It’s at
a point where it’s almost expected to happen to our friends and family, and it’s so prevalent that
we often fear it happening to us. Cole addresses the fact that, due to our dreams and aspirations
seeming so far and hard to grasp, we grow up believing the misconception that black men are
meant to live and die on the streets. It doesn’t matter that a black child wants to be a surgeon or
how another may dream of being an astronaut, because at some point may they notice that the
system isn’t designed for them to succeed. Consciously aware that we want and dream big, but
unconsciously doubt our capability or opportunity to get there.
Then Cole continues, “Can’t visualize myself as nothing but a criminal, control the block,
serving up rocks, and stay subliminal.” To me there are a few messages in these lines, and many
of them coincide with some of the aforementioned concepts. Visualize is defined by Merriam-
Webster as “to see or form a mental image of”. Since the dawn of time, humans have used
visualization and imagination as effective ways to communicate, instruct, learn, and live. And
while we owe our technological progression to innovativeness and imagination, the fact remains
that an action is easier to accomplish if one has seen it done before. It’s why recipe books, how-
to-videos, instructional weblogs, maps, and instruction manuals are still as prominent today as
ever. Sometimes we need to see something done or witness that it is possible in order to believe
that we are capable as well. Cole is speaking on how many young black men feel out of options,
and with the oppressing stressors of everyday life (in an economically struggling household) they
may turn to selling drugs or doing unlawful things as what they believe to be their final
alternative. This is likely worsened once one considers the role that the media plays in
influencing how the youth develop – and picture themselves as adults. Cole’s use of the word
“visualize” references how black people are represented in the media as well. Black lives have
always been affected by the way we are portrayed, described, and represented to the public. A
recent study by The Opportunity Agenda found that negative mass media portrayals were
strongly linked with lower life expectations among black men. “Overwhelming evidence exists
of exaggerated associations of African-American men to drug-related crime, unemployment and
poverty,” (The Opportunity Agenda). While growing up, if all one ever sees are black men
depicted as criminals, famous musicians, or basketball players, then that person more likely to
believe that those are what their realistic options are limited to. Financial struggles, not getting
the help one needs in school, and never being exposed to successful black adults in “white
collar” positions are all reasons why a young teen might not be able to visualize a brighter future
for himself. The scholars working with The Opportunity Agenda had some choice words on this
matter in their article titled “Media Portrayals and Black Male Outcomes”:
A number of researchers have essentially conducted “censuses” (of representations
overall, of fictional characters, of characters in ads, and so forth) and compared these
findings to the numbers of black men and boys that would be expected if racial bias were
not at work. As this research has progressed, analysts have grown more sophisticated in
the distinctions that they draw about where black males do and do not appear in the
media. A pattern reported again and again is that African Americans are underrepresented
in various facets of the media’s portrayal of the world. (The Opportunity Agenda)
This is attesting to the fact that African Americans are underrepresented or misrepresented in
many facets of the media and the world. If we aren’t being depicted as angry, wild, senseless,
unruly, or being forced to adhere to stereotypical roles then there’s a chance we won’t be there at
all.
His next verse goes as follows – “Cause young niggas is hardheaded, they letting off, full
of adrenaline, ignorant to what death can cause, “. I think it’s worth mentioning what
“hardheaded” means here, and what Cole means when he uses it. Most dictionaries, including the
Oxford and Collins English Dictionaries, define hardheaded as “practical and logical; not
sentimental,” or says it’s an adjective used to describe someone who is determined to get what
they want. It is important that the reader understand that that isn’t the way Cole is using it here.
Speaking from experience, hardheaded means stubborn, arrogant, and/or ignorant in a black
household. Mothers use it often to describe a kid who doesn’t listen or misbehaves, despite being
fully aware of what they should be doing. When you’re hardheaded, you don’t listen – and many
black teens have been deafened by lack of opportunity, socio-economic disadvantages, racial
tension, and the pressure of certain communal stressors. Some parts of the black community have
developed a cyclical nature of violence, and after witnessing friends and family die in front of us,
we want to answer back with even more violence and death. In 2018, statistics from the National
Review show that whenever a victim of violence was black, 88% of the time the suspected
attacker and/or murderer was also black (Latzer 2018). (Note that the suspected attacker was
black, not necessarily the actual culprit.) Struggling children constantly displace their anger onto
people and things that have nothing to do with why they are going through their tough times.
Black kids and men die for wearing the wrong color, walking down the wrong block, looking at
a cop the wrong way, being related to the wrong person, saying the wrong thing, and being the
wrong skin color. And because of this constant chain of violence and death, people have instilled
defense mechanisms that sometimes only make matters worse.
Cole continues, “ain’t no coming back, family dressed in black, plus its hot now, the cops
outside, it’s hard to flip a pack.” This is the reality; death is permanent and, while there is no
way to prevent it from happening, aggression and gang-culture are surefire ways to speed up the
process. “Family dressed in black” paints a picture that many people are likely able to relate to –
the image of one’s family at a funeral, grieving the loss of a loved one. However, with black
dying at a faster and earlier rate already, the impact of the very war-like culture of gang-violence
causes funerals and loss to seem even more normal than they truly are. The second half of this
verse highlights another antagonist figure in both reality and Cole’s story: the police. We can
derive some of the other sources of conflict for African Americans using what the writer has
already given us, but his mentioning of the cops here gives us a clearer picture. Police brutality,
systematic racism, mass incarceration, misrepresentation, racial bias, and historical instances of
black people being misled by the government all attribute to the general distrust of authorities.
According to Christopher Ingram, white and black people use drugs at the same rate, with white
men more likely to sell drugs than black men. That being said, black men are still arrested at a
much higher rate for selling or possessing drugs. This is a telling example of how the justice
system is flawed, and how the police targeting certain groups can shrew the statistics. Impending
police are yet another reason black men have to be careful.
Cole continues later on in his first verse:
“And my daughter gotta eat, her momma be stressing me like I ain’t the one who put them jays on her feet; Like I ain’t out in the field like that, I might be low for the moment but I will bounce back. Despite the charges, back to the wall I fight regardless, screaming Fuck the law!’ my life is lawless, that’s what you call it.”
It is extremely important to realize Cole’s tone when he says this phrase. He is faced with the
pressure of keeping his family fed and provided for in a setting and country where the odds are
stacked against his success – a struggle familiar to millions of other Africans Americans. Cole is
relaying that he is willing to risk his freedom legally if it means giving him a better chance at
succeeding in taking care of his family’s wants and needs. At the end of the day, he takes
comfort in knowing that he is able to afford clothes for his daughter and keep her fed and taken
care of. According to the scholars at the Food Research & Action Center, more than 35 million
Americans live in households that struggle with hunger daily. While there are many places in
America where one could go and see an abundance of stocked pantries, full refrigerators, and
operating power; there are still countless more who struggle everyday just to provide basic needs
like food and shelter to their loved ones.
“Ain’t gotta be no psychic to see this is like the farthest thing from heaven, this is hell
and I don’t mean that hyperbolic, I try to find employment even if its wiping toilets, but these
felonies be making life the hardest, resisting the temptation to run up and swipe a wallet, or run
up on your yard, snatch your daughter’s bike and pawn it.” In the eyes of many African
Americans in low-income locales, there is simply no way out. Too many are forced to grow up
believing that selling drugs, gang banging, and hugging corners is the easiest way to survive in
this life, and consequences of that kind of lifestyle are literally deadly. We are either killed by
cop or each other, and our dreams and opportunities are stymied early by felonies, harsh
sentencing, or lengthy records. As a community, we’re succumbing to this inferiority complex of
ourselves that limits what we think we are capable of. It doesn’t just end there either, as the way
that this country views black kids and the black community is off and wrong. According to
studies done by ncbi.gov, the law and political leaders often try to portray black men as thugs
and criminals when they do not rise to the standard of euro-centralized “White America” (Smiley
2016). This is an example of systematic racism and enables people to look down and disrespect
African Americans in a way that can only harm our own perception of ourselves. Cole finishes
off his first verse of the song with some important choice words that help allude to the origin of
the song. “That’s why I write this sonnet; If the pressure get too much for me to take and I break,
Play this tape for my daughter and let her know my life is on it, (For your eyes) Let her know my
life is on it.”
The second verse of Cole’s song is also very interesting. It is one of the longest verses on
the album, and yet there is a very similar undertone during the entirety of this verse – cycles and
patterns. He begins this verse by giving some more detail as to the setting of the song and the
story that is about to take place. “You probably grown now so this song’ll hit you. If you’re
hearing this, unfortunately means that I’m no longer with you – In the physical, not even sure if I
believe in God, But because you still alive, He got me praying that the spiritual is real.” The
way Cole opens this verse answers a few questions. What we can garner from these words and
the way he concluded the first verse is that this song, 4YourEyezOnly, is a gift that the speaker
has left for his daughter to be played in the event that he passed away. He admits that he isn’t
entirely sure if he believes in God. One of the Psychoanalytic Critical Theory concepts that I feel
really applies here is the meaning of death. The speaker is expressing how much he doesn’t
know about the afterlife, a problem that the rest of us on earth can relate to. His prayers that the
“spiritual is real” are testaments to how much he knows he will miss his daughter when he is
gone.
Cole continues on, this time placing emphasis on the many cycles that we experience
throughout life (something we will see him do a lot of in the third verse). It is often said that
history repeats itself, and Cole pays testament to this quote with his story. “So I can be a part of
you still, my pops was killed too so I know how part of you feels. Maybe you hate me, maybe you
miss me, maybe you spite me, life goes in cycles, maybe you’ll date a nigga just like me.” The
pattern of death has not stopped. There is a constant fear of death and dying going on; people
from the hood are shot and killed left and right either by other gang bangers or the police.
Bystanders lose their lives for being at the wrong place at the wrong time; their relatives strike
back in anger to get vengeance. And the pattern/cycle is apparent in more situations than one.
Often men who are absent fathers didn’t have a man present in their own life. They grow up with
this false conception that they never needed a man or a role model, and/or conclude that it isn’t
beneficiary to the children. According to statistics from fathers.com, fatherlessness is one of the
biggest epidemics the world has seen, as over twenty million children in the US are missing their
dads. A whopping 57.6% percent of black kids are growing up without their fathers in the
picture, and probably millions more have fathers who are physically there, but emotionally
missing (McAdoo 1998).
Verse two of the song continues where Cole left off, and we start to see the gradual tone
of the song continuously shift towards cyclical patterns of both the financial and social
community that the speaker lives in. “I hope not, I’m tired of dope spots, And fiends that smoke
rocks, I’ve seen far too many niggas‘ hopes rot. I’m writing this because me and the devil had a
dance; Now I see death around the corner, ‘pologizing in advance.” The word I think of after
reading these lines is “experience”. Cole has experienced all of this before now, and he’s tired of
reliving it. He’s tired of dope spots and drugs, and seeing the effects of drugs on the people
around him. The big thing here is to realize that Cole (or at least, the man he is speaking on
behalf of), is very aware of his own specific situation. He is one of millions of African
Americans trapped in a broken system and a terrible cycle; a product of a very violent
community that he didn’t necessarily ask to live in. He is not the first or the second person to
want out, or better for himself and his family, and he definitely won’t be the last. But he feels as
though there is no way out, and the harsh reality is that there often isn’t an escape. In his
experience, he’s seen so many people go through the cycle and not survive in one piece. And
using that same experience and some foresight, he believes that death is around the corner for
himself as well – which is the true reason behind his creation of the song. The song is essentially
his way to speak to his daughter after his death, in case his worries have some truth to them.
Again, we see more themes of death and despair in the work, which coincides with the alarming
rate that people experience death in these communities. The verse continues, “Don’t know if I
ever had a chance, At a glance, I’m a failure; Addicted to pushing paraphernalia. But Daddy had
dreams once, my eyes had a gleam once. Innocence disappeared by the age of eight years.
These lines relate directly to my aforementioned points on inferiority complex. After learning of
all of the obstacles that kids in these situations must sometimes face, it begats the question of
whether these children ever really had a fair chance at all. And the answer to that question is in
the experience of every socio-economically challenged family in these areas. It is in the
experience of every person dressed in all black attending a funeral for a loved one that they lost
way too soon. It is in the experiences of every child that has had their innocence pried from them
as they were forced to fend for themselves or take care of their family because the acting adult
wouldn’t – or couldn’t. At the end of the day, kids are forced to grow up way too fast in a violent
environment that isn’t ideal for success.
The last half of the second verse supports these findings. Cole raps “My Pops shot up,
drug-related, Mama addicted, so granny raised me in projects where thugs was hanging, blood
was staining the concrete, older niggas I loved talked like they was above maintaining a
timesheet; that slow money, picked up the family business by the age of thirteen, six years later
was handed a sentence.” This flows right into the crux of both theories. There is the pattern of
drug abuse in low-income areas, and because of the local crime, our young African American
men are exposed to the wrong example of how to handle things. Violence, drugs, and a
nonchalant attitude towards a higher education are viewed as normal, yet these are all defense
mechanisms developed by African Americans in these locales. In the experience of the friend
whom Cole is rapping for (who is essentially a symbol for millions of black men in America),
the only role models and men in his life were the ones who pushed him to do the wrong things.
First, his father lost his life on the streets, likely hustling to put food on the table or get his family
out the projects. His mother is a drug addict, which means she was out of commission and unable
to bring anything helpful or positive to the table until she’d gotten the help she needed. Then he
is raised by his grandmother, but she’s doing it alone and has to settle for raising him in the
projects. The only males in his life at this time were likely men who also had to sell drugs in
order to get by. So, by just thirteen he was on the street corners selling weed; fast forward six
years and he’s locked up at nineteen for doing the only thing he’s ever known, and with a baby
on the way. Now he won’t be there for his own kid, and the pattern just continues. “‘Round the
same time is when you came in this world, Me and your mama thinking, what the fuck we naming
this girl? I told her Nina, the prettiest name that I could think of, For the prettiest thing my eyes
had ever seen, I was nineteen. Took me two felonies to see the trap, This crooked ass system set
for me. And now I fear it’s too late for me to ever be, The one that set examples that was never
set for me. I’m living fast, but not fast enough ‘Cause karma keeps on catching up to me; And if
my past becomes the death of me, I hope you understand.” The last few lines of verse two give us
more information about the story as well as reemphasize some earlier points. We discover that
Nina is the name of the speaker’s daughter, who happens to also double as the recipient of the
gift/song. A guiding theme here is the fear of death that is very evident in both Cole’s tone and
the words. This song was written because of father’s love, but also because he is very scared that
he going to lose his life soon – either due to the crooked system set by a government that could
care less about him, or his “fast” lifestyle. Now he is facing a very scary thought of not being in
position to raise and protect his daughter due to what he foresees as an upcoming extended
absence.
In verse three Cole’s relentless angle continues; he opens by exploring the constant fear
of death in the lives of anyone living this lifestyle. “It’s several ways I could’ve went out, too
many to count. Was it the trigger-happy crackers that the badges give clout? Was it the young
niggas, blasting frustrated cause the cash running out, Niggas don’t know how to act in a
drought.” Repetition, in general, is typically used to emphasize a certain point. This isn’t the first
time that Cole has mentioned death, or dying; it’s been a reoccurring theme throughout this
entire song. Everyone who will listen isn’t going to necessarily be familiar with the lifestyle, or
the state of mind needed to live it. In my opinion, Cole talks about death as often as he does in
this work, because that is how prevalent and prominent death can be in the communities of the
lower income families. There are so many reasons to be constantly worried of one’s wellbeing.
You could get robbed and killed for what you have, die trying to take something that someone
else has, be murdered by the police for being the wrong color, gunned down for the sole reason
of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. So much death that Cole couldn’t possibly talk
about that lifestyle without talking about death. It gives a dark, more serious tone to an already
serious song, and darker impact on the psyche. Cole continues, saying “See baby girl I realized,
my definition of a real nigga was skewed, my views misshaped by new mixtapes that confirmed
the shit I learned in the streets was true, that real niggas don’t speak when they beef with you.
They just pull up on your street, let the heat achoo, and if a real nigga hungry he gon’ eat your
food, I was a fool, spent all my time ducking school, ducking cops, ducking rules, hugging blocks
that don’t love you, I pray you find a nigga with goals and point of views, much broader than the
corner, if not it’s gon‘ corner you, into a box, where your son don’t even know his pops, and the
cyclical nature of doing time continues.” This part of Cole’s story is one of my favorites, and
mainly because it’s one of the few moments in this song in which he angles at both the struggle
faced by black men AND black women. What is happening in the streets, statistically, is causing
us to draw our attention to the males of the community, and often times we forget to consider
how the women are affected. In verse two, Cole speaks a lot about the role models that he took
growing up. His definition of a man – what a man is supposed to be, how a man is supposed to
act – was blurred (or skewed, if you will) very early in his life through learning tough lessons or
losing role models via death or prison. He was forced to look up to the men in the community
who were already broken by a system that was designed to disappoint. This is where I feel the
situation should be examined from a different angle.
Many of the struggles that come with living as a black man can affect black women as
well. Black women are roped into this concept except with a double consciousness; they are
facing the same white privilege, institutionalized racism, eurocentrism, and disadvantages as
black men but also must live life with the disadvantages of being women. There’s sexism, double
standards, economic inequalities, motherhood, violence and abuse, sexual assault, and many
other obstacles women have to face daily – and this is a concept often forgotten or disregarded
by many males. According to nonprofit national organization The Life of a Single Mom, there are
more than fifteen million single mothers in America. A percentage of this number is largely due
in part to both mass incarceration and the high rate of death in many gang influenced
communities.
Another important thing to remember is Cole’s struggle to identify what a real man is,
and what qualities a real man consists of. If African American boys are having hard time with the
definition, then it is also safe to assume that the females of the community might be struggling to
define a man as well. They too are losing fathers, siblings, parents, and role models. They are
growing into young women, wanting to start a family and build relationships, but might not
know how to differentiate between the good and the bad. It is also possible that one’s perception
of what is attractive or successful could be skewered. In reality, these are issues that affect the
entire community as a whole, rather than just the gender that’s more likely to indulge in lethal
violence. Sometimes women have to struggle to find a man who knows how to treat a woman, or
else they face raising their children alone. This causes other societal stressors, high levels of
anxiety, and is very cyclinac in nature as well (Neal-Barnett 2019).
Cole prays that Nina will grow up safe and find a man with goals, plans, and point of
views. He is saying that he doesn’t want his daughter to get sucked into that lifestyle or cycle,
through her affiliation with a man. When she becomes an adult and decides to settle down, he
wishes for her to do it with a man whose goals are bigger than just that of the “corner” or the
streets. It’s that limited mindset that stymied his own growth, and he wants her to do better.
Cole ends the third verse in the same way he ended the second. “My worst fear is one day that
you come home from school and see your Father face while hearing ‘bout tragedy on news. I got
the strangest feeling your Daddy gonna lose his life soon, And sadly if you’re listening now it
must mean it’s true. But maybe there’s a chance that it’s not, And this album remains locked in a
hard drive like valuable jewels; And I can teach you this in person like I’m teaching you to tie
your own shoes. I love you and I hope to God I don’t lose you, For your eyes only.” Here Cole
again, through the words of a friend of his who passed – directly refers to his fear of dying and
all of the circumstances that come with it. He’s been feeling like his life will end soon, and since
we are hearing the tape we know that he was right. But he still hopes and prays that he is wrong,
the song is locked away, and that he is still around to install life lessons in his daughter.
The fourth and final verse of the song carries a certain weight to it. Prior to the final verse
beginning, there is an eerie and suspenseful tone to the instrumental playing. The story is
reaching a climax as we begin to further anticipate and understand Cole’s words – and Nina’s
father’s motive. “One day your daddy called me, told me he had a funny feeling; What he’d been
dealing with lately, he wasn’t telling. I tried to pick his brains, still he wasn’t revealing. But I
could feel the sense of panic in his voice and it was chilling. He said Jermaine, I knew you since
we was children; I never asked for nothing. When times was hard, I never had discussions with
you, begging you to help me. I dealt with the repercussions of my actions – I know you tried to
steer me ‘way from that shit.“” The first thing I noticed about this paragraph was the change in
perspective. We are no longer hearing the song from the point of view of Nina’s father; rather,
from now on we’ll be hearing from Cole about how the events played out. The speaker may have
changed, but this verse carries many of the same themes and ideas as a few of the previous.
Nina’s father is still worried about dying soon, and at this point his problems and worries about
his lifestyle are starting to be physically noticeable. His voice is shaking and Cole knows that he
means business with whatever he is about to say. “But that shit was in my blood. You know my
life; I know your Momma nigga, send my love. In case I never get a chance to speak again, I
won’t forget the weekends spent sleeping at your crib – That’s the way I wished my family lived.
But my granny crib was in the ‘jects – I had to interject like, ‘Nigga what you talking ’bout?
Fuck is you getting at?” At this point in the song, Nina’s father is doing a lot of reflecting. He
understands that it was his lifestyle and the broken system that put him on this path of eventually
doom. He’s still convinced that he will be losing his life soon, but to his friends he just sounds
like he’s going a bit crazy. Cole is confused here because to him, this is just another regular day.
But Nina’s father is persistent. “He said “Listen, I got no time to dive into descriptions, But I’ve
been having premonitions; just call it visions from the other side. I got a feeling I won’t see tomorrow,
like the time I’m living on is borrowed. With that said the only thing I’m proud to say I was a father.
Write my story down and if I pass go play it for my daughter when she ready.” On these lines we
see the whole purpose behind the song revealed. It’s a token for his daughter to have and listen to
once he is no longer around to tell her himself. Nina’s father is trusting Cole to be there for her,
and ensure that she gets it when the time is right and she can understand. The final quote I’ll use
will be from the end of Cole’s fourth and final verse – “And so I’m leaving you this record for
your eyes only, don’t you ever scratch or disrespect it. This perspective is a real one, another lost
‘Ville-son. I dedicate these words to you and all the other children affected by the mass
incarceration in this nation, that sent your pops to prison when he needed education.” This verse
in my opinion carries a great amount of weight in the sense that it shines light on a major issue.
The entire work really packs a lot of the societal and racial issues and addresses them head on,
but this part in particular really resonates. The system is broken and has been for a long time. We
live in a world where the government’s answer to a societal issue is to either jail, kill, or
condemn the lives of our young black men. There’s such a large opportunity gap and a
socioeconomic difference in some of the inner cities and rougher parts of the US. Many of these
kids don’t get the support they really need. They have parents who are dealing with the negative
consequences of living on the wrong end of a capitalist society; burned out from working
multiple jobs or hustling to scrape by. In school, they are sometimes labeled as problem kids by
the educators and don’t get the help and attention they truly need to succeed. By the time they
are young adults – with baggage, scars, and damage from the things they’ve had to experience,
they have records or have maybe began to go down the wrong path. And to go perfectly with all
of that, we have an unrelentless, unforgiving justice system with an eon-long prejudice against
minorities and – especially – African Americans. It raises the question of how long this is going
to be the story of countless black men and women, when it is common knowledge that the
system itself is fixed for our failure.
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