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Unless you haven’t noticed, it looks like J. Cole has fully embraced his artistic and conscious side. The Roc Nation rhymer stopped by ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’ on Wednesday (Dec. 10) to perform ‘Be Free,’ a song that he released earlier this year.
In light of the current social unrest that’s been happening across the United States due to the Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner cases, Cole decided not to perform a song off his new album ’2014 Forest Hills Drive.’ Instead, the North Carolina native wanted to send a heartfelt message to the grieving families and the whole country.
Sporting all black and backed by a lone keyboardist, Cole sung and rapped passionately about the plight of black people in the United States, particularly young black men. He enunciated every word fully — making sure everyone heard the song’s message and feel its impact. The performance couldn’t have been any more timely.
At the end, David Letterman seemed touched and took the time to express how much he loved the song. He also thanked Cole for coming on.
With all of the rap songs out there that do everything except talk about the issues, it’s nice to have a rapper who isn’t afraid to put the promotion of his new album on the back burner to address current issues. So Cole should definitely be applauded for his selflessness.
Meanwhile, Cole’s LP, ’2014 Forest Hills Drive,’ is projected to sell over 300,000 copies in its first week of release. That’s quite an impressive feat considering there was no advance promotion or single for the album.
And here’s another feat for the talented spitter: ’2014 Forest Hills Drive’ is slated to become the first rap album to sale over 200,000 units in one week, beating out other major artists like Rick Ross.
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