Royce Da 5’9″ says J. Cole is the “only competitive” artist in the current landscape of hip-hop. Appearing on Joe Budden’s podcast, Royce reflected on how the genre has changed over the years with his Slaughterhouse partner. They also discussed where Cole ranks in comparison to Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
“I haven’t taken a real deep look out into the landscape but from where I’m sitting it looks like J. Cole the only one being competitive," he began "He’s the only one who’s rapping with the kind of conviction that says I still value the number one spot as a lyricist. I see a lot of the younger generations not really hanging their hat on just the lyrical part of creativity at all. They’re finding different ways to impact and resonate with people which is fine.”
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“That’s when the elder statesmen like myself start learning,” he continued. “I wanna make myself understand why is this touching people like that. I can’t even understand what they’re saying. It’s definitely moving away from lyricism being the caveat, which I’m cool with ’cause there’s a lot more things I can do without being lyrical-lyrical.” Budden mostly agreed, listing Cole above Kendrick Lamar. “I got Cole as my one,” Budden said. “I’m hoping that Kendrick’s next album could try to fix that for me. Drake is doing his Chuck E. Cheese sh*t. Good for him. That’s it now. Yeah, that’s it.” Check out Royce's full comments on the podcast below.
Royce Da 5’9″ Speaks With Joe Budden
The two also discussed their expectations for Cole’s upcoming album, The Fall Off. That project will be a follow-up to his 2018 effort, KOD. Be on the lookout for further updates on Royce Da 5’9″ on HotNewHipHop.
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