That is the muthafuckin question! You know I have always spelled it like that. I put a u in “mother” when I don’t pronounce the “er” part of it. Just feels normal. And sometimes I put a ph instead of an F in “fuckin” for no damn reason at all. It’s the rebel in me. Do rebels retire? Probably not. I think we die fighting. There’s respect in that. Retirement seems like giving up. It’s a personal choice. You usually feel like you have done enough or simply no longer want to work, so you take what you got and go chill somewhere.
Been thinking about retirement a lot lately. See I exist in a bubble of comfort. I am ashamed of it to a degree because I am young. You are supposed to grind while you are young so that you can be comfortable when you can’t stand to or are unable to grind anymore. So I might be spending all my comfy points now and Imma be slaving in my 60s, mad af. My dad is almost 60.. And he’s working. He has to. And I see so much of him in me that I figure I’m probably headed down the same road. That’s the beauty of introspection and knowing your parents.. It’s about the closest thing you will get to seeing your possible future. Key word being possible. Maybe one of these days I’ll wake the fuck up and get back to work.
For now I’m going to go ahead and neglect this grind to continue this blog post. I had an argument about retirement at lunch. Before I get into that, shoutout to one of my favorite rappers.
As one of my favorites, I have expectations. One of those is the expectation that he continues to create. However back in 2016, Cole alluded to possibly retiring in “Jermaine’s Interlude” on DJ Khalid’s album. I haven’t actually heard the song but I am familiar with the line: “Said all I could say, now I play with thoughts of retirement”. Here’s the song if you want to listen.
Anyway my homeboy says I shouldn’t have feelings about J. Cole wanting to retire. Part of that is him being a less passionate individual than I am in general but furthermore less passionate about the current generation of hip hop music. There is so much nonsense on the radio that the thought of losing a solid artist to “retirement” upsets me. I just can’t help but think “Nigga, don’t leave us with this bullshit..” That to me would be like Barack Obama retiring in the Senate instead of pushing to the Presidency.
Yes of course, I am being selfish. Fans are selfish. Truth be told we don’t really care about the artists, just the art. I don’t know J. Cole or Barack Obama as people, I just appreciate what they have contributed to their craft and feel it is necessary. And of course, they don’t care about me either. They care about their own lives. And why shouldn’t they.
To side track a bit, I recently watched a video about Seth MacFarlane and his relationship to Family Guy. The author of the video talked about how Seth MacFarlane’s passion for the show probably died the day Bryan (the dog) died in the show. It went over how Bryan is the closest character to the real Seth MacFarlane and how after so many years of the same thing, it’s difficult to maintain your passion. Seth may feel stuck because his passions have evolve beyond Family Guy but there is still an audience for it and money to be made from it (not to mention, probably a contract).
So I get that. But that to me is different. Seth will still create comedy even after Family Guy ends. And J. Cole should stay committed to making music, even if he dabbles outside of his genre the way Kanye West, Andre 3000, and Childish Gambino have. The main point I argued is, you shouldn’t say you are going to retire if you are just going to do something else for a while then come back and drop an album when you rekindle your passion. Jay Z retired. But he “came out of retirement” and made several more albums, one which came out just last year. So. Did he retire? Not in my book. He took a break.
Have the foresight to declare that you need a break. Don’t retire and have your fans thinking you are leaving us hanging. Not to say you owe us something, but I think every artist owes something the their art, especially if they contribute to it in a positive way. Because there are plenty of vultures who will simply use that same art to fatten their pockets and without the balance of genuine talent, fans of that art will become exhausted of all the fakeness and that art will die. Don’t let hip hop die, J. Cole.. At least not until you have passed the mantle. Also, thanks for what sounds like a pretty dope album (tho I can do without so many repetitive hooks).
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