This one might be controversial to you and to a lot of people,

but my story with Cole is very special. I like this man a lot.

My story with music started when I was 13 years old.

My older brother has always been someone I look up to. He was obsessed with J.Cole, forest hills drive throbbing in his room all day, posters, tweets. Everything. I wanted to know why…

And just like every young guy, through my early adolescence I enjoyed music for the vibes I get off listening to it, didn't care much about lyrics.

Up until I turned 15 years old and that's when I started seeing music as a way to process my feelings and express my identity.

No artist on Spotify wrote stuff in his music that I related to as much as J.Cole did.

And I'm sure that it's the case for a lot of young men out there, Cole is the type of artist you can turn off the music, listen to him just rap and still enjoy the fu*k out of it.

Deciding who's the goat of hip hop just comes down to each person's preference. But If we're talking pure rap skill, Cole holds the throne for me. Let me explain why.

I'm not even going to mention the fact that he went platinum with zero features in FHD, none of that stats stuff, I'm talking rap. craft. skill. production. Here's why he's the goat for me:

1. Elite Breath Control & Flow.

I listened to Eminem, Nas, Kendrick, etc. Nobody delivered flawless- run bars Live as J.Cole did. He holds 50+ second verses on stage effortlessly. His flow on the mic is unmatched.

2. Features.

Absolutely smokes the songs he's featured on and leaves. Legendary bars everywhere. When you see Cole is featuring somewhere you know that artist in outshined.

And this explains why he can fly without needing features on his music. Extremely lethal and effective.

3. Messaging.

Cole's storytelling hits deep ASF. His music is so real and relatable it can make a grown man tear up. 03' Adolescence

will remain one of the songs that moved me like nothing else.

Cole's storytelling is deep sometimes but once you start digging into it to understand you'll find no competition.

4. Consistency.

You just know you're about to listen to some real music when he drops, even in 2025.

Barely misses to impress. Always delivers. Always ready to kill.

5. He produced classics.

J. Cole produced almost the entire forest hills drive by himself and went platinum with that album. This is the kind of work you do in your room and drive across the world with it.

This post doesn't mean there's no competition. It's my own opinion. He meant to me personally more than anyone in the industry. thoughts?