“Cryptocurrency and spinach. How are they alike? You either love them or you hate them.”

- Peter Robinson

Crypto is a polarizing topic. Some people love it because they’ve made money, others are skeptical about what they don’t know, and a select few hate it knowing absolutely nothing about it. All are welcomed here. However, I’ve observed that much of the hate that crypto gets is unfair and is usually tainted with misinformation or misconceptions. This article is my attempt to present crypto objectively, address the problems it solves, and explain why it’s a revolution for our money.

The most important thing to know about crypto is that it enables the transfer of value between any two people on Earth, without permission, via the internet.

Let’s make this more tangible by playing a game. It’s called “A Dollar Around the World.” The objective of the game is to send 1 single dollar to as many places around the world in the least amount of time possible. You send it to a friend in another country, and then they send that dollar to another friend somewhere else. Pretty easy. So how would you start?

With today’s global financial system, whether you try to wire it, send it via Venmo, or cross it over borders, you’ll need a third party to handle the transaction. This will be the case every time the dollar moves from one person to another. And with each person the dollar reaches, we are required to trust a third party, pay a fee, and wait 3-5 business days for the transaction to settle. Before long, the dollar loses its value and the game is over. 

Crypto fixes this. You can send any amount of money, big or small, anywhere in the world almost instantly, for fractions of a cent, all without needing anyone in the middle.

Cryptocurrency in its simplest form is a breakthrough in computer science – built on decades of research in cryptography. It’s a way for one person to transfer a unique piece of digital property to someone else via the internet such that the transfer is guaranteed to be safe and secure.

“Digital property” is relevant to readers with a bank account. Anyone reading this article who can log into their banking app and review their balances would agree that they own the money displayed in that app. You earned it. It’s not cash in your hand, but it is digitally available to you. Therefore, you might say, “We can already send and use our money anywhere with today’s financial services.” And you’d be correct, but there are limitations – try taking $10,000 in cash across the border or sending $601 to your friend in a different country. Those limitations will come to light very quickly. 

So asking “what problems does crypto solve?” is like asking “what problems does steel solve over, say, wood?” You can build houses or tools out of either, but steel gave us taller buildings, stronger railways, and more ambitious public works during the Industrial Revolution. With crypto, we can create financial systems that are fairer, more durable, and more resilient than the systems of today. As Erik Voorhees famously stated in his ‘Permissionless’ speech: “Money is fundamental to our human existence. Because of this, we should care about its quality, its character, and who controls it.”

In the following sections, we’ll compare the qualities of traditional fiat to that of crypto. By the end of the article, readers will understand the significance of this technology.

One of my favorite mantras in the crypto industry is “Don’t trust, verify.” This is thanks to a technology that powers crypto known as blockchain. In simple terms, blockchains operate as a record keeper – they keep track of what’s happening on a network. This is important because you, and anyone else in the world with an internet connection, can verify that things (otherwise known as transactions) have indeed occurred. 

In our current financial system, we have vested this responsibility of record-keeping and transaction execution to our banks, payment processors, merchants, and the numerous private companies that power the system we use today. Anytime we move money, we depend on these various organizations to be available, honest, and fair.

But what happens if a payment processing service suddenly goes down and isn’t available? How would you access or use your money? The entire Kingdom of The Netherlands was asking themselves these questions when equensWorldline, a payment processing company, suddenly stopped working. About 35% of transactions were affected over the course of 3 hours meaning that more than a third of the country was unable to use their money (Source).

Additionally, how do we measure whether these trusted parties are honest and fair? Using their services means agreeing to their terms of service (ToS). When was the last time you read the ToS all the way through? Probably never. We trust these organizations to not be evil, greedy, or corrupt, but there is no guarantee of such things. And what of those who cannot open a bank account? What should they do? It seems like as long as we qualify, get permission, and follow the rules, only then can we use our money. This is no way to live. And so, I offer you a proposition. Consider crypto.

Blockchain networks, and by extension, cryptocurrencies, turn “Don’t be evil” to “Can’t be evil.” They can make strong commitments about their future behavior. A popular expression in the industry is that “Code is law.” A blockchain guarantees that any code it runs will continue to operate as designed. There are no secrets. You are told upfront how the network works and what behaviors to expect. Users are free to enter and leave the network whenever they’d like. And unlike a corporate or a state network, there is no consolidation of power across entities, so there’s no need to trust or even know members of a blockchain network in order to interact with them. Thus, blockchains are a trustless network. 15 years ago, Bitcoin was a revolutionary invention because it created permissionless money. Then, a few years later, smart contracts on Ethereum were invented, and just like that, we were given all the tools we needed to revolutionize the global financial system.

Next, we’ll discuss some of the immediate benefits of leveraging crypto in domains like personal finance and commerce.

“Your margin is my opportunity.”

- Jeff Bezos

There are fees everywhere these days. You pay fees when you send money to your friends and family. You pay fees to deposit your money from Venmo into your bank. You pay fees when you take money out of an ATM. But it doesn’t stop there! Let’s imagine that you’re trying to send money from anywhere within the United States to, say, Australia. You would need to pay for exchange fees, wire fees, and you are likely waiting for 5-10 business days for the transaction to settle. Because our current financial system is facilitated by numerous entities, we’re forced to pay these facilitators a fee whenever we use money. Businesses and merchants are subjected to even more fees like:

• Payment processors.

• Keeping the business’s money in a bank.

It’s not uncommon for businesses to “pass the costs'' onto their customers (I’m looking at you, Ticketmaster). Adopting cryptocurrency relieves both parties of these additional costs. It circumvents the need for middleman services and their respective take rates since the business can now handle payments directly with their customers. 

This introduces a few benefits like:

• Reduced operational costs for the business

• Real-time transaction validation for immediate customer assurance

• Saving anywhere from 2-5% on their profits

• Transparency between customers and businesses increases dramatically

But all of these benefits surely have a catch, right? You may have been told that some hacker can click a button and make 10 billion more bitcoins and tank the value of your money. That “they” are in control of your money… In the next section, we’ll take a look at who controls what, and then you can decide what sounds reasonable to you.

Let us review our current global financial system. The United States Dollar is the world’s global reserve currency and is largely sought after by citizens of other nations for its dominance over their own nation’s currency. This has served the United States well, but its citizens – as well as anyone who holds USD around the world – are subject to the decisions of the single entity that controls the dollar: The Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is responsible for controlling the supply of  U.S. Dollars. One single entity. Full control of our currency. What could go wrong?

As the US Government’s debt continues to grow, those in power have cleverly realized that they can simply print more money to “pay back” what they owe. This increased supply greatly decreases the purchasing power of the dollars already in circulation, meaning that even if you were saving a million dollars in the bank, your money is guaranteed to lose value because of something you have no control or say in. This is known as inflation, and this sheer abuse of power has directly contributed to reckless government spending, rising debt, and other adverse economic impacts affecting US Citizens. We are literally paying for this.

The fall of great empires across all of human history can be attributed to a small group of people having control over the world reserve currency, losing their financial discipline, and thereby losing world reserve currency status. Yet again, we’ve found ourselves in a similar situation seen all throughout history. The difference is that now, we finally have a way to separate our money from the state which creates a fair, unfuckwithable money for everyone.

This is why crypto is a significant innovation. It is an escape from the unfair playing field we’ve been forced to play on. It breaks the cycle of mistakes humans have always made. It is a revolution. Crypto is freedom.

The most common attacks on crypto are:

1. It’s only for criminals who launder money and engage in illicit activity.

According to reports from 3 different sources, less than 1% of money that is used for illicit activities or laundering money is done so with crypto. 99.4% of all global corruption, money laundering, and illicit activity is facilitated with traditional fiat (Source). Blockchains keep track of transactions on the network. There’s nowhere to hide, especially not with ZachXBT around.

2. It’s a pump & dump ponzi scheme filled with anonymous people who control everything.

It’s true that malicious actors have carried out blatant scams, rug pulls, and ponzi schemes using crypto. It's usually orchestrated via smaller tokens (often called shitcoins) where those bad actors set tokenomics that work in their favor. This is usually discernible when reviewing token supply distribution, vesting schedules, and token incentives. I generally chalk this attack up to: “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” So yes, practice caution when a random stranger on the internet incessantly nags you to buy a shitcoin called $UPONLY. When you see that one wallet owns over 50% of the supply, it might be worth reconsidering whether that’s a token worth buying. The majors (BTC, ETH, SOL) do not have this problem.

3. The price is way too volatile.

There have been wild swings in price during the time of crypto. However, this is generally the cycle of technology. A new innovative technology reaches the masses (mobile computing, social media, IoT, gaming, AR/VR, crypto, AI, etc), it becomes the only thing people talk about for a few months, and then the attention dies down. 5 of the 6 largest price swings in stock market history are technology companies. (Source)

Given crypto’s close ties to technology cycles, it’s true that it has caused volatile prices. On a long enough timescale, prices will eventually stabilize. Although I personally don’t view crypto as an investment vehicle, Bitcoin specifically has been the best performing asset in the last 10 years (Source).

4. It can be hacked/It’s not safe to use/you’re not protected.

One of the most important properties about blockchain is that it is infeasible to manipulate the ledger. This is because every computer (or node) on the network has its own copy of the ledger (or the database of transactions). In order to “hack” the blockchain, an attacker would need to assert a malicious transaction across a supermajority of nodes. Those nodes would then need to accept the malicious transaction as valid, and do so all before the next block (which contains the correct list of valid transactions) settles.

In other words, it’s damn near impossible. Furthermore, the slight possibility that does exist is economically infeasible. It would cost the attacker a lot of money (likely more than they would gain from a successful attack) to attack a network.

However, you can still lose your funds sharing your passkey the same way you can lose your identity if you share your social security number with random people on the street. So, you know, be smart.

5. Cryptocurrencies aren’t backed by a government or central bank.

Yeah, that’s the point. The Dollar is backed by the United States government and it has provably less value today than it did 110 years ago (Source). The U.S. National Debt is an astonishing $34.68 Trillion dollars (and rising).

6. It’s bad for the environment.

Bitcoin consumes less than half of the energy required to run the banking or gold industry (Source). All cryptocurrencies combined is between .4%-.9% of annual global electricity usage (Source). So if you really care about the environment, it’s time to become your own bank.

The state of crypto has improved substantially over the past few years and the amount of innovation happening in the industry from crypto-native builders & existing mega-corporations is proof of the adoption of cryptocurrency.

A big example of this adoption is with stablecoins. Fiat-backed stablecoins are tokens issued on blockchain networks that are designed to maintain a stable value and have fiat reserves that are held off chain. Visa, in collaboration with Allium Labs, have produced an onchain analytics dashboard to show how fiat-backed stablecoins move via public blockchains globally. Some key metrics in the last 30 days (as of the time of this writing):

• $3.5 TRILLION in Transaction Volume

• 347.1 Million transactions

• Average supply of 146.9 Billion stablecoins in circulation

• 31.1 Million monthly active users

All of this movement is happening without a single middleman involved. Simple peer-to-peer transactions. Visa is showcasing irrefutable proof of the adoption of stablecoins globally. Stablecoin adoption is generally driven by the need for a stable store of value, efficient cross-border transactions, and hedging against local currency volatility. Learn more here: https://visaonchainanalytics.com/

Another example involves the investment behemoth, BlackRock. They unveiled their first tokenized fund issued on the Ethereum blockchain, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL). BUIDL provides qualified investors with the opportunity to earn US dollar yields by subscribing to the Fund. While this requires individuals to comply with KYC (Know Your Customer) regulations, the fund, alongside other digital asset investment products from investment firms like Fidelity and Grayscale, are being offered to institutional investors (think of people with retirement funds, pensions, 401k’s and IRAs).

The last example is with Shopify integrating Coinbase Commerce, which enables businesses to accept payments in crypto. Shopify stores immediately increase their profits by 2-5%, improve the transparency of their business with their clients, and can accept payments in any crypto that the client wishes. This is because Coinbase Commerce instantly converts the client’s chosen crypto to USDC (United States Dollar Coin), mitigating the concern of market volatility. Payments are settled near-instantly, meaning the business receives their funds immediately rather than having to endure a wait period.

The best way to “learn” crypto is to get directly involved. Below are 3 apps you can download to join the network:

• Coinbase Exchange, an application to swap between USD to almost any cryptocurrency you can think of.

• Coinbase Wallet, an application that works as a self-custodial account. This means that you and you alone are in control of your wallet and the assets within it. There’s a famous saying in crypto: “Not your keys, not your crypto.” Essentially, after exchanging your assets on Coinbase Exchange, the next step would be to move your assets off the exchange and into your own wallet.

• Farcaster / Warpcast, a social network on blockchain, but you would have never guessed it. You can write posts, engage in topic-specific discussions, collect art, swap tokens, shop for products, play games, and well, literally anything you can imagine. Anyone can build atop of it without permission. It’s a great place to use your crypto.

If you’ve read this all the way to the end and have managed to create a wallet address, DM me a screenshot (@quez.eth on Farcaster, X, or Instagram) and I will personally pay you $5 in $BORED token. And of course, if you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to ask! Take care of yourselves out there. Stay curious.

- Quez

I’ve been a die-hard J. Cole fan since I was first introduced to hip-hop (shoutout to Meezy F Baby for changing my life). Many folks online have stated that J. Cole isn't a generational hip-hop artist. Rather than doing the mental gymnastics required to arrive at that conclusion, I’ve created a list of J. Cole’s top 10 greatest verses that unquestionably cement him as one of the best hip-hop artists of all time.

With such a massive catalog to swim through, I needed to set some rules to organize my list as objectively as possible. First and foremost, because I had started working on this list before “Might Delete Later” was released, I decided not to include any bodies of work released after March 2024. Secondly, I needed a specific set of values to analyze each verse against:

- rhyme scheme, flow, delivery, or cadence -> how interesting or unpredictable a verse is.

- word choice -> the nuance or cleverness of the words used.

- substance -> the subject matter or overall theme of a verse. This can also be considered the storytelling element.

Each of these elements contributes to the overall impact of a verse. As such, various combinations of these elements have different impacts, so this list is my subjective ordering of objective measurements. Let’s get into it. 

3 Wishes is a cult classic amongst longtime J. Cole fans because it highlights one of Cole’s greatest strengths: the ability to tell highly detailed stories while maintaining a hypnotic flow.

“3 Wishes” is a story about Cole’s upbringing alongside a close friend during their childhood and adolescent years. Cole has told countless stories of the conditions he was raised in, and while there were many difficulties, Cole often expresses his gratitude after recognizing how much worse some of his friends had it. This is mentioned early in the verse with the following bar:

“Yo mama loved me to death, she reminded me of Afeni.

Yeah, a real black queen, if I had a genie

I’d wish that she ain’t struggle no more.

Y’all wouldn’t have to go to sleep with all them roaches if she wasn’t so poor.

You told me when you came to my house

that shit was like a timeout

from reality”

A noteworthy observation is that throughout the whole verse, Cole is incredibly selfless with his wishes, using all of them to improve the conditions of those around him rather than for himself. Despite the title of the song, Cole makes a total of 4 wishes across the verse. This is tragic when the listener arrives at the end of the song to hear what Cole believes is his last wish, which unfortunately, would never be granted.

While the verse doesn’t demonstrate any particularly clever play on words or anything of the sort, the vivid imagery in his storytelling coupled with his intoxicating flow place this verse at number 10.

To be a compelling rapper, you must know yourself. It requires a deep level of self-awareness, vulnerability, and a willingness to not only ask yourself hard questions but to answer them as well. Verse 3 of 2Face is a perfect culmination of these elements. In this verse, Cole reveals the two sides of himself, his environment, and his behaviors.

“Yeah, I seen Heaven, seen Hell, the two faces of the Ville

One side dreams, the other side's real

One side schemes, the other side deals

What the pain brings, another mother cry still

Why the fuck am I here, God?

That ***** died, why the fuck am I still alive?

I feel ashamed 'cause the good Lord done brought all this success to me

And all I seem to focus on is all this stress on me

Blessed homie, we breathin', cold world got me sneezing”

The verse is like an internal dialogue that Cole has where he recognizes the sometimes cruel, wicked nature of where he was raised while reminding himself that despite the circumstances, he is blessed to be alive. He also questions the decisions he’s made regarding his relations with women he doesn’t know very well. During this self-talk with the man in the mirror, Cole faces himself and his decisions so far, a difficult task for anyone to undertake.

“I'm playing daddy to another ***** daughter

Don’t worry, even Jesus never saw his real father

It don’t bother me at all though”

While the rhyme scheme is relatively predictable, the subject matter, clever choice of words, and passionate delivery land this verse at Number 9.

This verse is a special tribute of sorts, partly because it is a collision of past, present, and future, but also because Cole was being compared to so many legends at the time of Friday Night Lights’ release.

Any (real) Cole fan will tell you that Friday Night Lights is one of the greatest mixtapes of all time given the range of instrumentals, ferocious bars, and vivid imagery that is present from start to finish, perhaps warranting some comparisons to legends like Nas; something that Cole modestly dismisses with this bar:

“A lil’ birdie on the low told me you got an 'Illmatic.'

Nobody touching Nas, ***** this more like Villematic.”

J. Cole showcases exactly who he is with this verse: a hungry, confident, and ambitious individual who works hard despite what others think (or rather, refuse to believe). This was cleverly demonstrated with the following bar:

“I guess it’s in God’s hands. I make the type of pieces that’d make Jesus say ‘God damn!’ that’s for you non-believers. I’m the truth, only time will teach ya.”

While the rhyme scheme is fairly consistent throughout the verse, there are a few moments where Cole crosses the bar line to help tell his story. Passionate delivery, witty punchlines, and a riveting subject matter place Villematic at the Number 8 spot.

This verse is a masterclass in persistent rhyme schemes and rap cadences. For the entire verse, Cole maintains the same structure of his rap from start to finish. One might naturally think that this approach can quickly become uninteresting, or boring, and in most cases, that tends to be true. It becomes predictable. However, that’s not the case here. I believe Cole challenged his penmanship by placing this constraint on himself, and the result was undoubtedly one of the most impressive verses of his career.

“As for me, I cook so masterfully, ain't gotta pay a chef

I'm older now, but still, I'm cuttin' edge, I'm like a bayonet

From out the 'Ville, we OSHA certified, you gotta wear your vest

Too many homicides, a lotta slidin', they good at makin' decks

Thanks to God, I made it out the city, most would say I'm blessed

My greatest flex is that I made a milli', feel like I'm Bangladesh”

The verse contains plenty of bar lines being crossed, an impeccable delivery, and witty punchlines to boot. However, the subject matter feels like more of a demonstration of his writing prowess (boasting) than Cole sharing observations like what we’ve come to expect, the exceptional talent in this verse unquestionably lands a spot at Number 7.

This verse took the hip-hop world by storm and for good reason too. It singlehandedly asserted what many diehard J. Cole fans knew: there’s no better rapper alive today.

In this verse, we see the culmination of elaborate imagery, a witty play on words, a satiating rhyme scheme, and bars with enough weight to match that of a freight train all in one.

“Stretchin' the truth, know I never stress in the booth

They feel the pressure, me I feel like I just left the masseuse

Effortless, how I'm skatin' on these records is proof

I put your favorite rapper neck in a noose, never lettin' them loose”

What I love the most about this bar is that it feels like an eloquently spoken boast. Any rapper can say they’re the best, but very few will describe AND demonstrate why they’re the best. Comparing the pressure that rappers must feel to perform versus the release of pressure Cole feels when performing is evidence of his experience and confidence. Cole spent the entire verse sounding buttery-smooth over the instrumental, staying in the pocket effortlessly while he twists and turns with his words throughout the verse. Cole provided a masterclass for rappers anywhere to observe.

This verse and that of ‘Secret Recipe’ are easily the best rap verses in 2023, bar none.

We’re only halfway through, but I wrestled with which verses belonged on this list. I listened to J. Cole’s ENTIRE discography for almost 2 months total (not including Might Delete Later) and even still, there are verses I think belong on this list. I won’t dive into them, but here are the honorable mentions that easily could’ve fit anywhere on the list so far:

- Killers, Verse 1

- Can I Live, Verse 2

- Love Yourz, Verse 1

- Beautiful Bliss

- Return of Simba

- The Autograph, Verse 1

- Farewell, Verse 2

- Cost Me A Lot, Verse 2

- Applying Pressure 

- The Climb Back, Verse 1

- Change, Verse 1

- False Prophets, Verse 3

- Want You To Fly, Verse 1

- Mo Money

- Grown Simba, Verse 3

- The Badness

I could go on forever. This man has been making music since 2007 and this list doesn’t even include Might Delete Later, It’s a Boy, or The Fall Off. Talk about a crazy discography!

The next 5 verses are in their place because of the emotional substance in each verse. For me, this substance alone is enough to constitute their position.

I was a young man when I first heard Knock The Hustle, and I was blown away when Cole brilliantly described what love meant to him.

“To never try is the ultimate fail

But love is wantin' more for someone than they want for themselves, deep

I guess I love a lot, because the more

I do my thang, the more I feel the guilt and shame that my brother's not”

This lyric expanded what the concept of love could mean and all the ways it could be expressed. I simultaneously felt a sense of familiarity with the lyric when thinking about friends I believed in who maybe didn’t believe very much in themselves. And yet, despite this relevancy, I also felt that I had more work to do in ensuring that I felt the same way even when it was hard to do so, i.e. when friendships sour but you still want the best for them.

A small detail in the verse that I loved is that Cole’s emotion could be heard towards the end of the final verse.

“I take a trip back to the Ville, only corpses remain. Some of them ****** still breathing, but they dead inside. Victims of a genocide, tears fill my eyes, dawg

Cause I been out of touch, man, for way too long.”

It’s a beautiful and moving verse that should be heard by those who believe themselves to be fighters, hustlers, or hard workers. It is the kind of verse that will strengthen you.

There’s something magical about this verse and its ability to lift me when my spirits are low. I don’t depend on external resources to feel better, but when the hill is much steeper than usual, J. Cole’s “Legendary” verse seems to grant me the strength I need. 

“Perhaps I was foolish, just like the boy that prays to only see the sun

Maybe, life happens like tides

One minute you're low and feelin' shallow, then all of a sudden you rise

Just, ride the wave, I say to myself”

I can’t help but smile when I hear this bar. It represents the duality of life, the yin and yang that permeates our existence. I find solace in knowing that even the darkest moments can suddenly be illuminated by the smallest of lights. As Cole once described in “Love Yourz,” it is the beauty in the struggle and the ugliness in the success.

“I look at all I got like, "What's missin'?"

God is my only guess, 'cause yes, faith relieve the stress

I find peace again when I find Him and see I'm blessed”

Cole wraps up the verse ever so brilliantly with this bar. Many listeners might feel that Cole, or people like him who are rich and famous, have everything they could ever want. Ironically enough, even with all the riches in the world, one could still feel like something is missing, like that special feeling of fulfillment or happiness. It can be found in many things: their favorite childhood dish, the warm embrace of their kids, a deep connection with their partner, or the support of their friends. I see God in all of these things and I think Cole does too. So before you fall victim to thinking that more money or recognition from the world will make you happy, count your blessings first. You might see that you’re already rich beyond measure.

This verse was unexpected when I first heard it. Spitting over Drake’s “Pipe Down” instrumental, Cole delivers a passionate and vulnerable verse that lays out his perspective on his place in the rap game today, his adherence to his values, and the tribulations of being a modern-day celebrity. It’s no secret that J. Cole often embeds his philosophy in his raps, and there’s no better example of that than in the following bar:

“Like the second time I got cut from the junior varsity

Fightin' back tears, I promised to switch gears

And said to myself "Whatever you do, you won't do it partially"

From this day forward, I move with a new ferocity

Ferrari coupe velocity, a fail-proof philosophy

Success is in the effort, so if a ***** tried his hardest

I'm at peace knowing God ain't deal it in this group of cards for me”

I have such a deep admiration for this whole verse because I share many of the same values that Cole describes here. I’ve long felt that life is too short and that by extension, we should leave no stone unturned. There’s no better quest in life than to discover all that you’re capable of. If I were to have a theme song to describe this feeling, it would be ‘Heaven’s EP’.

This verse raises the hair on my arms. It is CHILLING. Cold. Dark. Ironically enough, it is unbelievable how authentic the verse feels.

The final verse on 4YEO starts differently than the first 3 in that it’s the first one where J. Cole “makes an appearance.” The first three verses are spoken from the perspective of his friend. The final verse is essentially a conversation between that friend and Cole.

“One day your daddy called me, told me he had a funny feelin'

What he'd been dealin' with lately, he wasn't tellin'

I tried to pick his brains, still, he wasn't revealin'

But I could feel the sense of panic in his voice

And it was chillin'”

The conversation continues between the two, but upon further questioning from Cole, his friend finally shares where the sense of panic was coming from:

“He said ‘Listen, I got no time to dive into descriptions, but lately I been having premonitions.

Just call it visions from the other side.

I got feeling I won’t see tomorrow.

Like the time I’m living on is borrowed.

With that said, the only thing I’m proud to say,

I was a father

Write my story down, and if I pass, go play it for my daughter when she ready.

And so I’m leaving you this record, 4 Your Eyez Only, don’t you ever scratch or disrespect it.”

If you immerse yourself as a listener, you might be able to imagine the trust that this man is placing in J. Cole, not only to listen to him during what he thinks are his final moments on Earth but also to safeguard and share his story with his daughter many years later.

After this bar, Cole switches back to himself and speaks to his friend’s daughter directly. He goes on to describe why her father was a real one. It had nothing to do with his swagger, his fearlessness, any material thing that he owned, nor his time spent in jail, many things that the youth can mistake as indicators of “a real man.” As you’d expect, Cole’s philosophy shines once more when sharing that his friend was a real man because he loved his daughter and nothing else. That his love alone was enough to make him a real one.

This album is fantastic, beautifully written and spoken, and filled with gems throughout the entire listen. For me, however, this final verse is the shining moment.

I wonder how many people even know about this verse. It is a hidden Outro that can be found at the very end of Logic’s “AfricAryan.” I call it the Acceptance verse because that’s what the verse is all about. Acceptance is closely tied to letting go, but doing so is never an easy feat, especially for those of us who may still be burrowing our pain and insecurities inside.

Am I enough? Will people accept me as I am? Am I capable of making my dreams come true? Will I find peace and happiness? What awaits me?

These are questions we have all faced, and perhaps, still face today. We try to find answers anywhere we can.

“But I done built this wall up

Acting like everything’s all good

But in reality, I’m looking for something

through bumping my favorite rappers I came up after:

Nas, Cole, and Hov

Eyes closed, I zone, till 5 or so in the morn’”

The following bar is J. Cole speaking directly to Logic, but it’s a bar that everyone should heed:

“*****, my advice, fuck the black and white shit

Be who you are, identify as a star

No one tells you you're that

It's something that you just know

The world be stealing your glow

Your mama did what she could

Her life was miles from good”

I cry when I listen to this verse. I get really emotional. And how couldn’t I? The world is constantly berating us with challenges, hardships, and adversities that start to chip away at one’s armor if they even have any to begin with. I am a highly optimistic person, but even the most optimistic person can have their time feeling down in the dumps. This verse is J. Cole’s best verse ever because he is speaking to each of us. He’s encouraging us to let go of our pain, forgive those who have hurt us, and to accept ourselves. You are enough. You are already loved beyond measure. And anything you pursue should be done for you and you alone, not for the acceptance of others.

It’s beautiful.

Thanks for reading through my list. I’m sure there will be many disagreements, and that’s ok. I’d love to hear what you’d put on your Top 10 instead! Shoot me a DM or drop a comment so we can chat. Please consider subscribing to the newsletter and sharing this post. This newsletter has no specific purpose, but I enjoy writing about music, technology, and the quest for self-improvement. If any of that interests you, then this is your place.

"It's a canon event." IYKYK

What I'd like to impart to you is a philosophy I deeply believe in, and I call it "The Last Dollar." Imagine you lose everything: your job, all your money, the conviction people have in you, your relationships, and so on. You're left with just one dollar, and someone asks you who you'd bet it on. What's your answer?

"MYSELF" is the correct answer (also would've accepted: me, I, the baddest mfer around, yours truly). The concept of rock bottom has always been profound to me. I celebrate it because there's nowhere to go but up. How amazing is that?

The greatest gift you'll ever give yourself is investing in yourself, and that should ALWAYS be the case, even if you're down to your last dollar. In times of triumph or trials, I invite you to always stand up for yourself. It's required because failing to do so means you won't be able to stand for anyone else.

This week, remember that it's not about how many times you fall, but rather, how many times you rise.

Have a great week,
- Quez

Quez's Rotation
This section is dedicated to things I've been consuming or living with this past week.
(Updated for March 27th, 2024)
Music: I've been going back to the early 2000's to listen closely to one of Boriqua's early hiphop OGs: Tego Calderon. "El Abayarde" is jam-packed with classic club anthems as well as several pure rap driven songs with bars to make you rewind the track.

Gaming: I've only been getting some Warzone Resurgence games here and there. I downloaded Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, but haven't gotten a chance to dive in yet.

Books: Chris Dixon's "Read, Write, Own" has been at the forefront of my reading these days -- and happily so.

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www.quezt.xyz