Complicated Terrains: Black Masculinity, J. Cole, and Building a Methodology of Softness

• In Event: Dreamscaping: J. Cole’s Dreamville and the Ecologies of Black Masculinity in Hip-Hop

Description for Program

As Imani Perry asserts, “gender in hip hop proves a complicated terrain.” No place is that terrain more complicated than the hyper-masculine gender performances of contemporary rap battles and “beef.” In October of 2023 Aubrey “Drake” Graham and Jermaine Cole “J.Cole” released the song “First Person Shooter Mode.” As two of hip hop’s most prolific rappers—the song was an immediate success. However, five months later in March 2024 Future and Kendrick Lamar and producer Metro Boomin released “Like That.” In this song Kendrick lyrically attacked the pedestal that Drake and J.Cole made for themselves in “First Person Shooter Mode.” The landscape was set for an epic hip hop beef. However, J. Cole almost immediately removed himself from melee, in an act of love and respect for both artists. This paper examines some of J.Cole’s lyrics and posturing during this beef to think through new terrains of Black masculine care in hip hop. In this paper, I build out a framework of Black masculine softness, not as a pejorative, but as a fertile landscape for Black masculine expression and presentation. This work builds on Black feminist frameworks and queer of color critique to ultimately consider how dominant representations of Black masculinity can begin to embrace softness as a generative paradigm even in hip hop’s most hyper masculine spaces (beef).

Author

• Brandon Manning, Texas Christian University