In a preview of a new episode of Kevin Hart's Peacock talk show Hart to Hart, J.Cole offered his thoughts on the current state of hip-hop and praised the women pushing the genre forward.
"I think it's fire," he shared, as seen in the clip above. "It's a whole different ballgame, you know what I mean? A whole different crop of young superstars and styles... I've been feeling like this for maybe a year or two [and] I hate to say it almost because it sounds almost like pandering, but I really do think, like, man, it's a lot of fire female rappers."
He said female rappers are producing some of "the most exciting" rap, at least "commercially," out right now. "They're giving us a lot of fire moments," he added, to which Hart suggested there was never the same "volume" of women in rap as there is today. "It was never like that, you always had one... a Lil Kim, a Foxy," he continued. "There could never be more than one, it almost felt like, now it's like, bro, we getting moments and moments and moments. I think that's hard."
Cole isn't the only rapper who praised the current state of hip-hop in a conversation with Hart. Recently, Dr. Dre said that the climate of rap is in a very good space right now and suggested anyone thinking otherwise just isn't paying enough attention.
"Let me tell you something. Hip-hop is what it is. Anybody that’s talking about the state of hip-hop right now and talking about it from a negative place sounds like somebody’s fucking grandfather," he shared. "You know what I’m saying? This is just what it is. Hip-hop is evolving. If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it."
Last month, Bow Wow also shared his thoughts on the state of hip-hop when he was asked about how the genre hasn't had the same impact on the Billboard charts this year. "Everything sound alike, everything repetitive, same tempo—it's just roll out the bed, everybody can do that," he said. "It wasn't like that. ... And now we finally getting to a point to where I feel like now it's about to shift back into the real shit." He added that the only exceptions, at least in his opinion, are Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole.
Earlier this month, Fabolous criticized the current crop of female rappers for only having "one style," as he put it. “I love hearing female rappers talking some real shit,” Fabolous wrote on his Instagram Stories. “Women are so strong. Have so many stories and perspectives that we need to hear in pure form.”
In June, Coi Leray urged "all the female rappers" to unite for a song to break the No. 1 hip-hop drought.
