J. Cole built up his new album The Fall-Off for years and years, so it's natural that the conversations around it are very in-depth, strong, and often divisive. His manager and Dreamville cofounder Ibrahim "Ib" Hamad recently chimed in on Twitter, saying that these discussions are often more about tearing other artists down more than they are about celebrating the great new music that fans have.
Specifically, he seemed to refer to fan debates comparing new albums to one another, such as the recently released Ca$ino from pgLang's Baby Keem. But Ib hopes die-hards can enjoy what they have rather than judging everything with a fine-toothed comb.
"Enjoy hip hop man, stop tryna scrutinize everything and listen as some sort of critic," he wrote this morning (Saturday, February 21). "Enjoy that Cole, Keem, [A$AP] Rocky and Don Toliver gave yall music at a high level and stop making everything about how can we tear people down. Our genre and culture will never progress that way."
The mention of Keem is particularly interesting because of Cole's history with his cousin, Kendrick Lamar. But that's exactly the "us against them" mentality that Hamad thinks is tainting the discourse, even if a lot of it is just fans expressing their opinion online.
J. Cole's "Trunk Sale" Tour
Elsewhere on Twitter, Ibrahim "Ib" Hamad recently denied beef with Jay-Z, expressed praise for J. Cole's "Trunk Sale" tour, and had another message that relates to both that trek and his comments on fan criticism. "Go outside. See the people. Connect with them and have conversations. It’s beautiful out here," he wrote.
Speaking of J. Cole's unique promotion for The Fall-Off, this aligns very well with Hamad's approach to sharing culture. They have been on the road talking with fans, selling CDs, making wholesome memories for die-hards, and connecting with folks via a lot of in-person events and conversations.
Now that we have a Cole world tour coming soon, we'll see how much longer the "Trunk Sale" tour lasts and what cities they might go to next. Everyone's a critic, but everyone should have the chance to enjoy the moment, too.
Read More: J. Cole "The Fall-Off" Review
