JOE COLE - MY LIFE

MY LIFE

JOE COLE

SONGWRITERS: JERMAINE COLE & SHÉYAA ABRAHAM-JOSEPH

COUNTRY: GERMANY

ALBUM: THE OFF-SEASONS

LABEL: DREAMVILLE RECORDS

GENRE: HIP HOP

YEAR: 2021

 

           Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) known professionally as J. Cole, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Cole is regarded as one of the most influential rappers of his generation. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained recognition as a rapper following the release of his debut mixtape, The Come Up, in early 2007. Intent on further pursuing a musical career, he went on to release two additional mixtapes, The Warm Up(2009) and Friday Night Lights(2010) both to critical acclaim, after signing to Jay-Z's Roc Nation imprint in 2009.

         Cole released his debut studio album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, in 2011. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. His next album, Born Sinner(2013), also topped the Billboard 200. Moving into more conscious themes, 2014 Forest Hills Drive(2014) topped the Billboard 200 and earned Cole a Best Rap Album nomination at the 2015 Grammy Awards. His jazz influenced fourth album, 4 Your Eyez Only(2016), debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Cole's fifth album, KOD(2018), became his fifth number-one album on the Billboard 200 and featured a then-record six simultaneous top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, tying The Beatles. His sixth studio album, The Off-Season, was released on May 14, 2021.

       Self-taught on piano, Cole also acts as a producer alongside his rap career, producing singles for artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Janet Jackson, as well as handling the majority of the production in his own projects. He has also developed other ventures, including Dreamville Records, as well as a non-profit organization called the Dreamville Foundation. Dreamville's compilation album Revenge of the Dreamers III(2019) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards. In January 2015, Cole decided to house single mothers rent-free at his childhood home in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

         Cole has won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song, a Billboard Music Award for Top Rap Album, three Soul Train Music Awards, and 8 BET Hip Hop Awards. All five of his albums have been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as well as Revenge of the Dreamers III.

                "My Life" (stylized as "m y. l i f e") is a song by American rappers J. Cole, 21 Savage and Morray. It is the third track from Cole's sixth studio album, The Off-Season, released on May 14, 2021. The song features the hook of "The Life" (2002) by American rapper Styles P, as interpolated by Morray. The song is set to release to rhythmic contemporary radio in the United States on May 25, 2021, as the album's third single.

           The song marks the second time Cole and Savage collaborated on a song, first time being "A Lot" (2019). Savage also appears in Cole's documentar Applying Pressure: The Off-Season. Cole and Morray were first linked in 2020, when Cole praised Morray's song "Quicksand", which led to speculations about a possible remix of the song.

Oh, you came there, God

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Oh, Lord

No matter how, no matter how long it take, yeah

No matter how long it take, nigga

Oh, God, yeah

You better be

 

Spiralin' up, just like a rich nigga staircase (Spiral up)

No fly zone, please stay the fuck out my airspace (Out my face)

Niggas say things behind backs that they wouldn't dare say (Dare say)

Know it's on sight when I see you, I'm workin' at Squarespace

Yeah, top of the mornin', I know that you thought I was dormant

Woke up early from shots that were swarmin'

A block full of opps, now the cops in an orbit

Guess somebody got popped, now they knockin' on doors

Tryna find an informant but I ain't see nathin'

I'm mindin' my business as God is my witness

No weapon gon' prosper that’s formin' against me

Nigga, I'm starvin', immensely

Know when I'm done with these songs, you gon' miss me

Ja Morant, I'm on my Grizzly

You niggas just cubs but no, not the ones in the big leagues

After The Fall Off, I promise I'm comin' to sellin' out Wrigley's

Nigga, I'm just a product of poverty, full of narcotics to profit off quickly

My family tree got a history of users that struggle with demons

Not really the hustler instincts

Therefore, often, my pockets was empty

So while some of my partners was servin' up rocks on the corners

The project assemblies

Me, I was startin' to envy, wanna be on the top where it's plenty

Wanna be in the spot like

Where every bitch want me like Rihanna droppin' new Fenty

What I see in the sky, the 'Ville is the ceilin', can't reach up too high, evidently

Nah, shit, I can't reach up too high, evidently

Never seen no one drivin' a Bentley

I can't be out here moppin' up Wendys

 

My life is all I have

My rhymes, my pen, my pad

And I done made it out the struggle, don't judge me

What you sayin' now won't budge me

'Cause where I come from (Come from), so often (So often)

People you grow up with layin' in a coffin

But I done made it through the pain and strife

It's my time now, my world, my life, my life

 

Say what? The stuff that I've seen got me traumatized

I let the K go when Johnny died

Swangin' that muhfucka' side to side

We don't participate, ain't with that squashin' shit, all we believe in is homicide

I got a good heart, so I send teddy bears every time we make they mommas cry

I pray that my past ain't ahead of me (21)

When I'm in love, I love heavily (On God)

If you betray me, you dead to me (21)

I disrespect you respectfully (Straight up)

I got some partners who left this Earth

Maybe the pain made a better me (On God)

Just know that they secrets is kept with them (On God)

I feel like the streets is in debt with me (Straight up)

I gave my heart away to all the dawg hoes

'Cause that's who accepted me (21)

I blame my pops for that shit 'cause if he didn't fail

He could've corrected me (21)

Give all the props to my momma 'cause no matter what

She always protected me (On God)

I promise you, it ain't no checkin' me (On God)

Jump in the water, get wet with me (Straight up, 21, 21)

You want my money or wanna have sex with me?

Can't let the opps or the law get the best of me

I get to answerin', you get to textin' me

I see chicken, you niggas is breast to me

Planted a seed but it ain't a sesame

Can't let you niggas or bitches grow next to me

 

My life is all I have

My rhymes, my pen, my pad

And I done made it out the struggle, don't judge me

What you sayin' now won't budge me

'Cause where I come from (Come from), so often (So often)

People you grow up with layin' in a coffin

But I done made it through the pain and strife

It's my time now, my world, my life, my life.