What Ari Lennox Can Learn from J. Cole.
Now that the dust has seemingly settled I feel it’s appropriate to talk about J. Cole for a moment. Nothing bad to say, relax. Despite the majority of rap fans who tuned into the Drake VS. Kendrick feud, I never gave J. Cole grief for bowing out. I do believe he shouldn’t have responded in the first place if he wasn’t going to throw verbal bows, but nonetheless, I’m not mad at him for backing out.
Mental health is much more important than ego and if joining the fight was going to do damage to his mental well-being, I don’t blame Cole one bit for saying “you can find me at the beach because I’m out, peace.” I’m also of the mind “if you keep poking the bear, don’t cry foul play when you get torn to shreds.” I don’t know how bears in Canada react to being bullied, but I know bears in America don’t take too kindly to bullies, especially fake bullies.
Songstress Ari Lennox sung the praises of her label mate/boss, Jermaine Cole, for not involving himself in drama. A noble act myself and others praised him for despite being in the minority at the beginning. I think it’s cool that she can recognize “maturity” in others, but Ms. Lennox is still missing the mark. Former rapper/podcast host, Joe Budden leaves a bad taste in Ari Lennox’s mouth for reasons she might deem justifiable. To paraphrase, Joe Budden pretty much said Ari Lennox should not go on tour with other music artist she does not gel with, musically. Listen to both Budden and Lennox on what started their (one sided) feud https://twitter.com/MobzWorld/status/1747308338952438056.
Ari Lennox clearly didn’t like the criticism and she doesn’t have to, but I do think it’s a bit hypocritical of her to praise J. Cole for doing something she refuses to do. Let it go.
This speaks to the wider issue of women having behavioral standards for men that they themselves don’t feel the need to follow. To them, maturity is “I’m old enough to drink thus I can do whatever I want,” but when it comes to what maturity looks like for men it’s “he’s old enough to drink, therefore should be able to appropriately handle himself with class when drunk and during any and all situations.” EVERYBODY should live up to the standards of maturity women have for men.
Maturity is not gender exclusive and the core behaviors of it should be practiced by everybody. Expecting everybody to behave in ways you refuse to is not a sign of maturity no matter the age. If you can see and appreciate it being done when someone else does it, you’re very capable of doing the exact same thing. It all boils down to if you want to or not.
