J. Cole- Power Trip ft. Miguel

It had been argued that artists have been manipulated by the music industry. They have been said to be Standardized and have Pseudo Individuality . However I may have found an artist that I think has not been manipulated by the music industry:

J. ColeI think that J. Cole hasn’t been manipulated by the music industry because as a young age, he had been inspired mostly by rappers Canibus and Eminem, Cole developed a love for telling stories in his lyrics. By age 14, Cole had notebooks filled with rhymes, but no beats of his own to record them with.He hasn’t changed, meaning that he still tells his story through his lyrics. If he was manipulated then he would be rapping about anything. He has structure in his verses. The beat to his songs are unique as the rhythm is sometimes Something you haven t heard before. For example:

In this song, he first starts to reminisce about when he used to hop from places to places, then he turns it into how he fell in love with a woman then how he is living now with the same woman problems. His lyrics were structured to tell us how he was in the past and how he was now but putting a love twist on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8Fn5BSBYeI

In conclusion, I think that he is one of a small bunch of artists that have not been manipulated by the music industry. He has not changed his look (fashion) , his lyrics or what he allows to happen in the music video aspect. However you can argue that he never used to have girls scantily clad in his music videos but he perhaps didn’t have the money to do that in the past in his other songs as he has the money and the right production to do so now. Also he may be trying to show us his life and I that is what he does (as he is in a strip club) then it is what he does.