“Just to share my life on stage in front of strangers who know a nigga far to well and that’s the danger. Know me better than I know myself”
Picture this. You Jermaine Cole and in front of you are 20 plus thousand die hard fans screaming the very lyrics you penned down in Fayetteville, North Carolina, . Those very lyrics which you thought would never make it past your Michael Jordan and 2Pac posters are suddenly coming at you from the golden circle, general seats and the random back stage dudes who keep screaming them at you. To paint more of a vivid picture, you have mobile phones shooting at a frantic pace, lights going on and off, click click, snap snap, bang bang (okay minus the bang bang, it just sounded cool to add that it in). Oh and you also have the random bra being thrown at you from the dark just makes dream so so beautiful. At this point if you J.Cole you prolly thinking how do these people know so much ? How did this bra get here? How do these people know my deepest words that I ever wrote? NO its not a dream Jermaine, South Africans really mess with your music and you had a front row seat to witness this live in South Africa on June 18th at The Dome courtesy of Castle Lite.
Sup, the J Cole show has come and gone. It will forever leave a lasting memory to all folk who got a chance to witness real rap music being displayed without extra layers, no jewelry, no shades, no opulence, no designer wear, none of that stuff which aint that real rap ting. JCole came in such an authentic, natural, simple and clean way that he made it easy for you to focus only on his lyrics and nothing else. To me this is what the JCole show was all about. That’s what he used to deliver an authentic experience.
But. You know there’s always a but. J Cole should have known he would get all the love he received plus that random bra because he is that big. The but comes in here “American artists do not consider themselves big beyond American borders”. I know this is a loaded statement to make but how many times have you heard the words “Man these people showed so much love”, “Man these people were rapping all my bars”. Something tells me this is what JCole told Cozz, Omen and Bass via Facetime. The only problem is that J.Cole shouldn’t have felt this way. He is loved by South African Youth because the music he makes is of hope, dreams, beauty in the struggle basically music that makes us go for what we believe in. Side note did Jermaine know that he performed during youth month? If he didn’t someone should have told him. The real cause of American artists feeling shocked when they get here is that “World Tour” mentality. Like how is it a world tour if you only touring the states in your own country? Many artists adopt this language and its normally those on the come up, those artists who we fuck with from the start. Can you imagine Nasty C saying he’s going on an African tour and he’s only doing shows in Braakpaan, Kimberly and Thokoza. Does not make sense huh? Also as great as American artists are I feel they don’t measure their success on a global level, they just want to be big in America. On another note I remember going to a Casey Veggies show in Cape Town in 2014 and I was in the front rapping every and I mean every Casey Veggies song. The dude was so shocked that he cut the music and went on to say “I don’t think you guys know how much I am appreciating all this love you showing me. This is is crazy yall”. Yeah that’s what Casey said and I’m sure JCole also felt this very way but damn its 2016 yall should know that we fans of your music.
So what’s the point of this story minus the “World Tour” ting which I don’t understand.
We the fans made it known that we fucks with good rap music.
We made it known that we are fans of artists who stand for authentic artistry. We showed JCole that his music plays a role in our lives.We cried for JCole.We finished J Cole’s lyrics for free.We took our bras off for Jcole.We took out our money for an authentic experience with Castle Lite. We tossed JCole lyrics back to his face to make his dream more real.We showed passion. We did not compare local versus foreign rap.
We were united by rap music. We lost designer gear, threads for a second for the love of music.
Ultimately we were hospitable and showed the world that we back artists who stand for good things.
This is my account of the JCole concert. Sadly though I was not there to see this dream come alive. I basically made all of this stuff up. But what’s the point of having an imagination if you can’t dream. I will see Jcole peform. One day is one day.
Photo Cred: @Cedric_Nzaka
