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Bryan Pong
English 103
Prof. Granillo
5-6-2019
“Working men have no country. We cannot take from them what they have not
got.”(Marx) Exploitation of the working class has been the way many societies elite stay above
the common man. During the era in which Marx’s The Communist Manifesto was produced, it
was theorized that the upper class bourgeoisie control the state, and proportionately leave the
oppressed working man with no claim in the country. This divide between classes is one of the
main ideas Marx based his reasoning and ideology on. We can see this separation in current
times by analyzing music. J Cole’s song “Middle Child” serves as a reminder of capitalisms
damaging effects on human psychology, and that “culture cannot be separated from the socio
economic system that produced it.(Tyson)” By way of Marxist concepts, such as bourgeoisie
versus the proletariat dichotomy and the concept of a “rugged individual.”(Tyson) Marx’s ideas
are shown in music. Patriotism is also found in the song and in the music industry in general.
Thus, “Middle Child” by J Cole, lyrics echo the ideologies of Marxism, that an individual’s
culture and self worth are directly related to their socio economic class.
The song “Middle Child” starts off with bold church horns and heavy bass lines. It’s
similar to the music that is played in movies when they introduce the hero. The artist J Cole has
been considered one of the greatest rappers of our time. His audience is mainly males between
the ages of 15 to 35 that listen to rap or hip hop. His style of rap is considered to be a conscious
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style in which he raps about culture and society rather than just drugs, guns, and violence. In his
music one can find several examples of his lyrics coinciding with the ideologies of Marxism.
First, Cole’s rhetoric promotes a sense of awareness around his people being “set-up to
fail” (Cole 02:38) and that he’s going to “make sure that the real gon’ prevail.” (Cole 02:39) He
is talking about people that are born into a culture in which they predestine to be part of a social
class that won’t make it out, which is the lower class or the proletariats. He says that he’s going
to make the real prevail because he is praising some of his peers. This shows that he wants to up
lift his people that are struggling or initially born into a negative society. I find that this is related
to Marxism because he also theorizes that people are born into their economic class and it’s hard
for them to make it out their class. “Workers own no or insufficient means of production, they
cannot survive unless they sell their labor power to employers.”(Yates) This economic division
will always be there because they rely on each other. The socioeconomic class divides people in
ways that are much more significant than differences in religion, race, ethnicity, or gender it
relates. They are the “haves” and the “Have nots.” The comparison continues when Cole
describes what the situation in hip hop is currently and where he compares the two classes.
proletariat classes as he states feeling “dead in the middle of two generations.” (Cole 02:13) This
speaks to his feeling of disconnect between the “OG (original) generation” of rappers, and the
newer generation. Cole believes he is responsible to mentor them, so that they can avoid being
trapped by the self destructive culture they come. Cole’s intentions to advocate for those that are
oppressed by a culture of inequality continues as he raps “I roll with some feigns, I love’em to
death, I got a few mil’ but not all of them rich. What good is the bread if my people are broke?
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What good is first class if my people can’t sit? That’s my next mission, that’s why I can’t
quit”(Cole 00:30) Cole recognizes that he has friends that struggle with substance abuse. Despite
their shortcomings or inability to afford first class flights, he still loves them and wants them to
be able to experience the same success he does. This is highlighted in the line “what good is first
class if my people can’t sit?”(Cole 00:33) To him, having the luxury of sitting in first class isn’t
worth the experience if his “people” can’t share it with him. Not only is his representation of the
lower class relevant to Marxism, but he goes on to describe the opposite to proletariats, the
bourgeoisie.
Thus, Cole brings up the concept of bourgeoisie, or what Marx describes as the upper
class or the aristocratic. These are the higher class that control the economies and make the
proletariats work for them. In a comparison to the song, Cole describes his situation as he
“studied the greats”(Cole 01:15) to make himself better and that he is moving into the
bourgeoisie world of hip hop. In relating the two, it shows that Cole recognizes that there is a
separation between the quality and age difference in hip hop. There is the golden age of hip hop
which most people consider to be the 90s. By using the 90s material he grew up on, and
studying them he hopes that his skill will also be considered one of the greats. Along with the
bourgeoisie, Cole also writes music that relates to the proletariats class.
A group in which are considered the working class by Marx, the proletarians also have
their place in society. Cole relates to the ones considered to be proletarians by showing he wants
to mentor them to improve their own circumstances and strive for something better. “I’m little
bro and big bro all at once.”(Cole 02:13) With so much of rap music today being about money,
guns, and drugs. Cole wants the new generation of rappers to be aware that they have been
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victims of their socio economic and cultural upbringing. This awareness that Cole intends to
drive through his lyrics, that they hope to band proletarians together to improve their conditions
and cultural consciousness. Another symbol Cole can relate to is being the “rugged
individual.”(Tyson)
Along with being the big brother, Cole can also be considered to the “rugged individual”
a concept that Marx considers to be one “who strikes out alone in the pursuit of a goal not easily
achieved, a goal that often involves risk and that most people would not readily
undertake.”(Tyson) Cole wants to be a guiding light to his younger competition by showing them
that he has faith in them to be something better. Cole says that he feels like “Lebron”(Cole
00:40) and that he has to get his people more “chip” in relating to money. This alludes that he
wants to help the people around him. Another lyric he uses “everthing grows, it’s destined to
change,”(Cole 01:00) shows how he’s aware that people can evolve and that he’s trying to guide
them in the right path. This is significant because most rappers try to go against one another,
while Cole is trying to uplift his culture. While presenting this uplifting spirit, Coles lyrics can
Both Marx and Cole share the same views, that classism divides social groups into those
who are in power, and those who are not. People at the top of the social scale are naturally
superior. They are more intelligent more responsible, and more trustworthy. While the
proletariats suffer daily do all the work. Cole touches on inequalities brought forth by classism
when he raps about a young artist that is “straight out the projects, no fakin’, just honest, I wish
that he had more guidance.”(Cole 02:23) In rap culture, many of the young artists come from
lower income project housing. Their stories appeal to proletarians listeners, allowing them to
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amass both fans and wealth, yet they still lack guidance for longevity. Cole continues to rap “too
many people in cycle of jail, spending birthdays inside a cell.”(Cole 02:27) The “people” he
refers to, are the marginalized proletarians, who “come from a long bloodline of trauma.”(Cole
02:30) Here Cole is talking about the society in which several people are in bad circumstances
such as jail or poverty, he wants to help break the cycle whether its father and son, or brothers he
wants his people to prosper. Marx says “that the economically oppressed suffer the ills of
economic privation, are hardest hit by economic recessions, and have limited means of
improving.”(Tyson) This shows a comparison of the idea that it’s hard to make it out of one’s
Marx’s theory about patriotism and comparing it to the rap industry is interesting because
it describes the poor versus the poor war time ideology. During war times the poor will be doing
all the fighting and leaving the aristocrats to make money, this includes both sides of the war.
We can compare this to “Middle Child” and to the rap industry because most artist have
executives and CEOs behind them. So the ones that do all the work are the artist and they
compete in making music while the executives make their money off the artist. The artist need to
band together so that they survive better, instead of being from different labels. Eventually when
they do get together they start new labels and band together. In doing so they can stand up
against the executives in power. Not only do all the artist do the work they create the commodity
of music.
“Commodity is something that is produced for the purpose of exchanging for something
else, and as such, is the material form given to a fundamental social relation — the exchange of
labour.(Baggins) By artist making music they can sell, they are providing the labors of the
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system. The ones at the top such as the executives are the ones that have to sell the commodities
for money. For some artist it's not all about the money that you bring in, it’s about the awareness
that they promote, there are only a few artist out that have the integrity as J Cole.
So much responsibility is on the shoulders of artists like J Cole because so many young
people are influenced by what he raps about. He says “pistol in your hand don’t make you
real”(Cole 02:10) several times throughout the whole song. Showing he doesn't want a violent
revolution, yet he's aware that something is needed to be done. Inequalities between classes is
still relevant in today's society, where the rich get richer and the poor almost never have a chance
to make it. Another idea Cole writes about is how “The real one’s is dyin’, the fake one’s is lit.”
He believes rap music is centered around popularity rather than lyricism, expressing a distaste
for the facades put up by the new rappers. This coincides with Marxism because he believes that
there are cultural productions that can not separate from the socioeconomic that produced it.
Marxism also believes “historical significance of the proletariat is ultimately not that it is
oppressed, but rather that it is the only class which is capable of overthrowing bourgeois society
and establishing a classless society.”(Baggins) This means that eventually a revolt will happen
In conclusion, there may always be a separation in classes whether it’s between the
“haves” and the “have not” or different generations of rap. That doesn't mean that certain people
can try to make it better for themselves and the people around them. By using a Marxist lens we
have showed that the music industry can have similar aspects to the way the Marx defined
society. As Marx predicts, proletariatets will one day spontaneously develop the “class
consciousness needed to rise up in violent revolution against their oppressors.” (Tyson) While
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Cole’s lyrics, do not promote a violent revolution, his message is the spark needed for
proletarians to amass a new class consciousness that recognizes the oppression and lack of
guidance that they are programmed to. Thus, Cole can be seen as the “rugged individual” that
Marx believed to pursue the difficult goal lifting marginalised proletarians out of the underclass
status.
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Works Cited
Marx, K. and Engel, F. (1848). Communist Manifesto. 1st ed. Moscow: Progress Publishers,
Baggins, Brian, and Andy Blunden. “Marxists Internet Archive Encyclopedia.” Encyclopedia of
Marxism, www.marxists.org/glossary/index.htm.