My Culture

Angel Duran
Autobiography
My culture when it comes to music is everywhere. When I was younger I used to
play rock band and guitar hero which made me like listening to rock. My favorite
band is Queen and favorite song by them is Bohemian Rhapsody. I am Mexican
and I’ve always been around Mexican music and Spanish music but I never really
liked it until one day. When I was 13 I learned how to dance all the different
Spanish music and ever since I’ve loved it. My favorite type of music to dance to is
Banda, which is Mexican culture. My favorite Spanish music to listen to is called
reggaeton. Big artists like Bad Bunny, Ozuna, Pitbull, and J Balvin are my favorite
artist in that genre. I also love dancing to merengue, bachata and salsa. I’m
personally a upbeat type of person. I love listening to songs to dance to. My
second favorite genre is Funk music. My favorite funk song is Knee Deep by
Funkadelic. I love hip hop, hip hop is my favorite music culture. I did hip hop class
for two years in high school.
Autobiography
We danced to Gimme that by Chris Brown my junior year and Kiss Kiss by Chris
Brown my senior year. I’ve always liked listening to rap music ever since I was
about 8. I used to love Eminem when I was 8 and he was a big reason I listen to
rap. My favorite song by him when I was younger was mockingbird. I like that he
told a story toward his daughter. Once I started Junior High I started listening to
nowadays rappers like Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and J Cole. One of my favorite
experience with the Hip Hop culture is concerts. I love going to concerts and I go
often. My first concert I went to was with G Eazy, Logic, YG and Yo Gotti. It wasn’t
my favorite artists but I loved the vibe about it, I loved that day and ever since I’ve
been to so many. My favorite concert I went to was J Cole. I had great tickets and
it was one of my favorite experiences. I also went to Ice Cube who came with
Zapp and Roger, Baby Bash, Too Short, Ying Yang Twins and Digital
Underground. Definitely my second favorite concert. I really love music and have a
great variety of music I listen to and I am open to all types of music.
 Introduction
I chose my favorite artist, J Cole. He is a rapper and poetic. When I
mean that I mean he is not like today’s rappers who just say
nonsense and get famous for dumb songs. J cole actually says a
story in his songs and that’s why I like him. My culture in music is
rap that has a story behind it.
Biography (J Cole)
● Jermaine Lamarr Cole was born on January 28, 1985, at a U.S. Army base in Frankfurt, then in West
Germany.
● His father, an African American soldier, left his mother, a white German postal worker, when Cole was a baby.
● His mother than moved to North Carolina
● His mom eventually remarried Cole's stepfather was in the Army, and the family relocated to a nicer home.
● However, the marriage crumbled and the family lost the house as Cole was about to leave for college.
● His stepfather had become abusive, particularly toward Zach; after the marriage ended.
● Cole's mother became addicted to crack under the influence of a new boyfriend.
Biography (J Cole)
● His debut mixtape, The Come Up, also came out in 2007.
● A track called "Lights Please" from his second mixtape, The Warm Up (2009), came to the attention of
the producer and music exec Mark Pitts, who played it to Jay Z.
● A third mixtape in 2010, Friday Night Lights,
● Cole World: The Sideline Story, came out in 2011 and would go on to be certified platinum.
● Cole's sophomore album, Born Sinner, came out in June 2013, it was another success. Would go
double platinum.
● 2014 Forest Hills Drive came out in December 2014 and premiered at No. 1 on the Billboard 200,
despite a lack of advance singles or marketing. It won several awards, including Billboard Rap
Album of the Year. It went triple platinum.
Biography (J Cole)
● His fourth studio album, 4 Your Eyez Only, came out just before Christmas 2016 and also went to No. 1
and also went platinum.
● HIs recent album KOD came out in April 2018 and went platinum.
● He runs the Dreamville Records label with his former St. John's University classmate Ibrahim
Hamad.
● The label shares a name with his Dreamville Foundation, a non-profit Cole established in his
hometown
● Cole is married to Melissa Heholt, with whom he has a child.
● He was signed by Jay Z after being rejected several times.
● Has toured around the world.
History (J Cole)
● He recently purchased the childhood home after which he named his 2014
Forest Hills Drive album, with the intention of developing it into temporary
rent-free accommodation for single mothers.
● It's actions like this that have made him a rapper that even presidents can
praise. Cole was invited to the White House to meet with Barack Obama in
spring 2016, something he rapped about on the track "High for Hours."
● Obama later commented: “This is the benefit of having teenage daughters, I
actually keep up… I love J. Cole.” Endorsements don’t come much bigger.
FRIENDS
This song is in his most recent album. This song is one of my favorite songs because he
talks about drugs and how to prevent it. "FRIENDS," Cole even goes so far as to call out a
few of his friends by name. Cole’s message was that drug addiction can be cure with
meditation. Peaked number 23 in July 2018.

https://youtu.be/Zd8cZHK2IEw

F minor. Duration 4:18

Released April 20, 2018

Album KOD

● Drums
● Keyboard
● Voice Echo
● Back up singer
FRIENDS
0:00-Intro-Song starts off with a 1,2,3,4 step beat.

0:22-Chorus-drums come in and is more upbeat

0:47-Bridge-dynamic goes up

1:10-Verse-dynamic seems faster because he raps fast. His rap tempo goes
faster.

3:07-Pre Chorus-back up singers sing a melody

3:30-Chorus-same tempo,

3:54-Outro-drums are playing for outro but wasn’t in intro.

Lost Ones
A song with dealing with young pregnancy, when you're around that age of either late
teens or early 20s. It Never made billboard. “Lost Ones” takes on the male thought
process, questioning his abilities to own up to his doing and raise a child while. In the
second verse, he takes a vocal stance of the mother-to-be.

https://youtu.be/4xr-rOzf0SM

F Major. Duration 4:24

Released September 27, 2011

Album Cole World: The Sideline Story

● Drums
● Guitar
● Keyboard
Lost Ones
0-00- Intro- Keyboard plays, 0:04 drums come in

0:23- Verse 1- Medium Dynamic, Medium Tempo

1:12- Hook- 1:21 guitar starts playing. Dynamic stays same, melody

1:34- Verse 2- Dynamic of tone goes up. Rapping faster

2:34 Hook- medium Dynamic, 2:44 plays guitar, melody

2:58 Verse 3- medium dynamic 3:42 drum stops playing for 10 seconds

3:58 Outro- dynamic goes lower, 4:07 guitar plays melody.

Love Yourz
This song is my favorite song by him. It’s about how we should be grateful for what we
have. That there isn’t a life out there better than yours. “Love Yourz” peaked at number
33 on the Billboard Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop National Airplay. The album however
debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling over 353.000 copies.

https://youtu.be/RTGTP514Bxw

A♭ Major. Duration 3:31

Released December 9, 2014

Album 2014 Forest Hills Drive

● Drums
● Violins
● Piano
Love Yourz
0:00 Intro- piano and violin starts playing. 0:20 drums come in

0:35 Chorus- Medium Dynamic, slow tempo. Melody

0:46 Refrain- Back up singing

1:10 Verse 1- voice starts rapping, tone tempo faster. 1:31 violins come in

1:45 Chorus- 1:54 violins goes away,

1:55 Verse 2- drums go away 2:02, 2:20 they come back. 2:43 violins play.

2:54 Chorus- same tempo, same melody.

3:05 Outro- 3:06 drums stop playing

References
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/j-cole-mn0001089515/biography

https://www.bing.com/k/celebrities/j.-cole/timeline

https://genius.com/artists/J-cole

https://www.billboard.com/music/j-cole

http://www.hiphopscriptures.com/jcole