New Artist – J.Cole

Who is J.Cole ?

For most people who follow mainstream Hip-Hop, that name may be foreign but in 2010, I am sure he’ll make his presence more known in the industry.

Jermaine Cole, otherwise known as J.Cole is the first artist signed to Jay-Z new record label, Roc Nation, which is distributed by concert kings Live Nation. With that kind of backing, from arguably one of the best MC’s ever in the rap game, pressure is sure to be at a boiling point. In 2009, he released a mix-tape appropriately titled “The Warm Up”, containing some lyrically impressive tracks that showcases his incredible word play and ability to tell his story. Those skills have garnered much comparison to unanimous 2009’s Rookie of the Year Drizzy Drake but I think their styles are completely different as well as their subject matter. Nonetheless, a good compliment.

An example of his witty lyrical approach is this video for his track Simba

On a side note, the directors of this video, BBGUN (Maxim Bohichik & Alex Bergman) do a great job on the cinematography. I really like their style and approach along with another up and coming director Rik Cordero for concentrating more on substance and the art of cinematography rather then the nice cars and the video vixens. The video itself is continuous with no cuts whatsoever which makes it different and visually stunning.