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I soo love this song alot, like, whenever I'm having one of those bad days where everything feels like it's going wrong and I'm just thinking about all the things I imagine myself doing when i was a kid and how it hasnt all panned out, somehow this song makes look at life from a point of gratefulness. There are songs you listen to because they sound good and others you listen to the actual meaning behind the song and what it means and that for me is j cole love yourz. The line that stands out for me the most is, “always gone be a bigger house somewhere but nigga feel me, long as the people in that motherf**** love you dearly.” That line hits different, because no matter how much money you make, there will always be somebody with a bigger house, a better car, more money, more followers or something you don't have. If you spend your whole life comparing yourself to people who have more than you, you can literally become miserable while ignoring everything beautiful that you already have. This is where the song becomes very personal for me. Sometimes life gets hard and I start thinking about everything I haven't achieved yet, the things I want, the things I wish were different and how far I still have to go but then I remember that I have a family that genuinely loves me. I have people I can come home to and honestly, what more can you ask for? I might not have everything I want right now, but having people who love you dearly is something a lot of money can't buy. That realization alone can completely change my mood. The story behind J. Cole makes the song even more powerful. Jermaine Lamarr Cole didn't grow up surrounded by luxury. His father abandoned him at a young age and he grew up with his mother in a trailer park where money was tight and even basic amenities weren't always easy to afford. He also had difficult experiences with some of the men who came into his mother's life. Through all of that, music became something he could hold onto. He eventually worked his way to the top. But then again what I think what makes Love Yourz so special is that J. Cole basically admits that the dream he spent years chasing didn't turn out to be what he thought it would be. When you're broke, it's very easy to imagine that money is the answer to everything. You tell yourself, “If I can just make it, I'll finally be happy.” If I get the big house, I'll be happy. If I get the expensive car, I'll be happy. If I become successful, I'll finally feel complete and then sometimes you actually get those things and realize... wait, why am I still not completely happy? That realization is all over this song, J. Cole even says, “Think being broke was better,” and I think that's such a powerful thing to admit after achieving the kind of success he dreamed about as a kid. He's not saying poverty is good or that struggling is something people should want. He's talking about the difference between having very little materially and having the people you love around you. There can be happiness in the simplest moments that money can't recreate.
That's probably why this song feels less like a rap song and more like advice from somebody who has already gone down the road you're thinking about taking. Cole knows what it's like to want more. He knows what it's like to believe that success will solve everything. He chased that dream, achieved it and then looked back and realized that some of the happiest moments weren't necessarily the ones where he had the most money. I think that's something a lot of us need to hear. We spend so much time looking at what other people have that we forget to appreciate what is sitting right in front of us. Somebody gets a new car and suddenly your perfectly good car feels old. Somebody buys a bigger house and suddenly your home feels too small. Somebody gets promoted and suddenly you feel like you're behind in life. Social media makes this even worse because we're constantly seeing everybody's highlights while comparing them to our own struggles. The biggest message I take from Love Yourz is not “don't want more.” It's “don't hate your present while chasing your future.” There's nothing wrong with wanting to become successful. There's nothing wrong with wanting financial freedom, a beautiful house or a better life. I definitely want those things too but I don't want to become so obsessed with getting them that I forget to appreciate the people who are already making my life meaningful. Because what is the point of finally getting everything you've dreamed about if you have nobody you genuinely love to share it with? .
Rating: 90/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/music.