Songs for a Neophyte: 2015.35

Love Yourz
J Cole

Modern
Stilt, or a lilt, if you like
Like a contained panic
A quiet artistry
How much effort
Wasted

Lyrics
Does J Cole really think that being broke was better? No.
It's more about his rhetorical questions "What's money without happiness, or hard times without the people that you love?" It's like money is an insulator from the things that used to work for him, like money has driven a wedge split-wise between him and the old ways.
It's a simple message. If you actually just listen, you can get it. He's not a hard rapper to understand (the all-pervading disease of mumblecore doesn't seem to have destroyed his health yet), and the song isn't clever enough to obfuscate. I'm not saying anything new here, because J Cole said it first. Someone else's car, house, woman--these things will always look better for one reason or another. Grass is greener, et cetera.

Is it true, though? I mean, it's a pleasant change from the attainment rap of the early two thousands when the genre finally "made it" and all white boys from Missouri knew of rap was that it was about former gang members bragging about their bitches and cars. But is it true that money can't buy you happiness? Is it true that attainment isn't worth attaining?
Ok, so I spent a couple months as a vagrant, so I have some expertise on this subject. Mine was chosen, rather than forced. I had a comfortable amount of money because after she left I just didn't spend anything anymore. I was healthy and knew my family still loved me. Take all these caveats when I tell you that I once ate from a trashcan and desperately wished I knew how to do it again. Remember my safety net when I tell you that I wrapped gauze on a wound that deserved stitches and took a nap in front of Walmart instead of going to the hospital. Don't forget that I'm disgustingly privileged when I tell you that I earned fifteen dollars playing a ukulele in front of a Casey's in Appleton City, Missouri and had a shocking moment of realization that I could probably quit my job and earn just exactly enough to eat every day playing stupid songs in public places.

No, money can't buy you happiness. But poverty can sure complicate holding onto it. I've seen miserable rich people and contented poor people, of course. But I think anybody who has lived even a touch of both lives can tell you that it's hard to listen to rich people complain.
Of course, the feelings you have are valid (no matter who you are). Your tears are exactly as deserving as anyone else's. Nobody can tell you that your heartache doesn't hurt. You should take exactly as long as you need to heal from emotional and physical trauma, and it's okay to be cautious when you step out again. Everybody takes risks, and no matter your situation, risk is scary. Everyone feels pain, and no matter your bank account, pain hurts. Everyone runs from their past, and no matter how protected your present, the past can still haunt.
But! If you can be happy despite your situation, rich or poor, healthy or ill, comforted or alone--be happy.

Stephen
See above.

I think the risk of admitting that you listen to rap is that when it was coming up, it was counter-cultural, associated with people that had been locked up for anything, fair or not, sung by people who had been shot, or at least shot at, or at least living in a life that was awash with that. It's not anymore. Real permanent wealth isn't just a pipe dream for the audience anymore. Rap is mainstream.
So, how long do we have to have the J Coles of the world writing heart-felt, moving, positive songs before we all look away from Gangsta Paradise?