J. Cole Addresses Addiction, World Life Issues on Latest Album, ‘KOD’
Since day one hip-hop icon and lyricist, J.Cole, has been giving us albums that provoke our minds to greater limits. His music brings awareness to current and everyday issues that we may often times try to sweep under the rug. So it is only obvious that his latest album, KOD, is no different.
KOD was released on none other than 4-20, which is also the National holiday for all of those who like to ‘fly high’ on this day, if you know what I mean. Thus, Friday, April 20 couldn’t have been a more perfect day for J.Cole to release KOD since it tackles the issue of his addiction on this album.
“KOD has three meanings,” J.Cole stated via Twitter. “‘Kids on Drugs’, ‘Kill Our Demons’, and ‘King Overdosed’. The rest of the album I leave to your interpretation.”
Those three meanings each represent different levels of using drugs or fame to escape mentally, and as we all know the entertainment industry, primarily the music industry, can be a very dark one if you are not well-grounded. In the industry you must have balance to be able to keep a straight head on your shoulders both mentally and spiritually.
The cover art for the album explains the album to a ‘T’, which features youth who appear to be indulging in drugs, such as Dirty Sprite (Sprite and Codeine) and illegal pills. It also brings awareness to the issue at hand that was highlighted in the news awhile back about the new drug epidemic that the teenagers of today are doing.
In addition to addiction awareness, songs such as 1985 prove as a testament to the older generation (Generation X and older millennials) giving their advice from their experience to the younger generation. I love the track 1985 because we need to be positive examples for the generations that are coming up under us. We are the closet to them and can better give our advice to them than the baby boomers can because the experiences that they are going through now, we already went through 10-15 years ago. Although, 10 years ago may seem like a long time, our experiences are not much different compared to what they are witnessing today.
If you have not listened to the album yet, it is available on iTunes and Google Play, and in all other stores Nationwide.