WELL DAMN Joe Budden Says He's Happy That J.Cole's Honda Civic Broke Down! "Tired Of The Fake Humble Gimmick"

If pride is the crown of all virtues, humility is the shabby little garbage swirling the gutters of the world. To J Cole, this bit of humble display cost him a hiccough in his roll out to his latest opus. In a nineties edition Honda Civic, he chose to go across the country and show off his modesty as a gimmick to hock his discount CDs.

Joe Budden and company roasted the idea of the great MC and his false humility (which is even worse than meekness) when his Civic broke down on the road. While there is no God, Budden thanked the unknown and unknowable by saying he felt pleased that the car had malfunctioned.

In all of this, it appears as if the Cole train has been stopped, or is that a mixed metaphor? The Japanese economy vehicle has been put to a halt due to mechanical failure.

When the Joe Budden team gets together, they do not always agree on the same thing. On this occasion, however, all had felt that the humility grab is just nonsense. Cole is worth millions of dollars. What he should have done was trick out a Maybach a la the music video by Jay-Z and Ye for “Otis.”

He could have made it look like a rolling casket, plush and just as sturdy.

Budden related a story of how Tech N9ine rolled with Budden and his fellow rappers. He said the Kansas City, Missouri independent titan rolled in a bus…but his Maybach tailed it.

This is the weird part of hip hop in America at large. At once ostentatious and then mild, this country is a doubled headed angel. One side says make enough money and then show it off and the other one says no yield not to the temptation of looking too rich or showy.

It has been at the root of this country since its founding. It creates in itself a distorted picture of what our values should be. In fact, it is part of the human condition to be on a “humble brag” status. Not just Americans, but the people through multiple generations and nations have grappled with the same issue. J Cole is just the latest example of this. It’s like when he said he liked his Bentley and sneakers dirty. He’s desperately trying to relate to his base, student loan debt burdened, multiple child households, young people trying to come up in the land of milk and honey.

Budden brought out the fire with his rapid wit and smoked J Cole for his false show of modesty. While this may be a brilliant marketing tactic, it also is frustrating because Cole could have paid people to go around in Rolls Royce SUVs and hand out CDs.

That would have been much more deliberate and prideful. That would have set a precedent and shown to the world the various ways that he has risen from midlevel hitter to a sultan of swing in the rap game. Cole is a veteran who has been on the frontlines and selling out billions of streams through his efforts. It is with this hustle, this very grind that has landed him in the top tiers of luxury rap.

But he denies the luxury part even though he brags on the songs. He has inspired legions of supporters to better get a glimpse at what it’s like to be middle class in America. The irony is that it’s through the lens of a multi-millionaire.

This was not lost on Budden as he demonstrated that Cole remains a critical and commercial success story and that all praise goes to him. In this realm of rap supremacy, the other names remain Drake and Kendrick Lamar. While this is a point of argument which sparked one of the biggest battles in hip hop history, one must look objectively at the fact J Cole is poised to stay at the top of the mountain just as long as the other two slow in releasing material.

But back to Budden….He knows that J Cole can display his riches with aplomb. He just has to bring together his world and project what it’s like to have millions while not alienating your base. Jay-Z mastered this idea. As a hustler, he always stayed fly and flush with cash, even as a beginner. As his fortune swelled, he became even more aware of who he was talking to at any moment of any song. From hustlers working at the counter of the grocery store to those selling packs on the block, they could relate to his stories and his lyrics. He never showed himself to be a bum. Even his latest hair do is a reflection of painter Jean Michel Basquiat. This late lion of art actually made substantial money while alive, something most painters and sculptors never get to experience.

J Cole should be dropping CDs from drones. Joe Budden would approve.