What Is The Theme Of Politics In J Cole's Song 'Be Free'

Music is a universal language, as musicians and artists believe that language barriers can be broken and persons can speak across different cultures with a mixture of lyrics and a melody. This gives artists a platform that not many other persons have. Over the years, numerous artists have gone political with their music using lyrics, videos and often times used interviews to state their political views. One of these artists who is explicitly political in his majority of his songs is J Cole and he goes explicitly political in a song called “Be Free” as he addresses a problem faced by black persons in our society today in a bluesy and an irate tone of voice. Jermaine Lamarr Cole was born January 28, 1985 in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He was …show more content…
It’s a song that isn’t as popular as his other songs, but by the persons who know it, it’s a powerful and emotional song. The melody for the song is played by a piano and is a slow, sad tune. The themes that can be drawn from the song are racial problems and political injustice. In the song, Cole sounds frustrated about the topic he’s addressing, as his voice sounds angry, but sorrowful shout throughout his verses, and goes towards a softer, mournful tone during the chorus. The change in tone works with the lyrics as the verses deserve added emphasis and gives an insight into how he feels. Also, the usage of the audio clip is an extremely significant part of the song as it gives the listener an insight into why he’s bothered by this situation. The audio clip is an actual witness statement made by a person who was almost killed by the hands of police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri. The audio clip is split into two parts, one part played after the second verse and chorus and the other part played after the bridge. I believe that Cole split the audio clip in two so we as listeners can hear how he feels throughout the song and can have a visual on what happened. The audio clip is visually relevant for the reason that although there isn’t a video showing the situation, the audio clip gives us material that we can use to imagine the event and …show more content…
Michael Brown, an 18 year old high school senior was killed by 28 year old, police man, Darren Wilson. This event angered quite a few persons in the black community and celebrity names such Killer Mike, Solange Knowles, Yvette Nicole Brown and J Cole, took to the internet and expressed their pain. J Cole took it a step further and released the song “Be Free” in response to the police brutality faced by black persons as early as 2012 with Trayvon Martin. This song is also in support of the Black Lives Matter movement that deals with freedom and justice for black persons. What is a direct nod to the Michael Brown killing in the song is the audio clip. The audio clip, as stated before, was a clip from an actual witness of the killing. The audio clip is giving us a chronological visualization of the chase and the actual killing of the victim. It also ties in with the Black Lives Matter movement, as this was where major protests started and where the majority of persons joined the movement. Also, the song ties in with the movement as he expresses how he and majority of the African American community else feels, as they are angry and the unable to suppress their strong feelings. He expressed those feelings in the first and second verses, along with the bridge. He expresses these feelings with words such as “And there ain 't no drink out