This is shown through the background information given by Genius. It states that,"The Never Story is J.I.D's debut studio album arriving less than three weeks after his signing to J.Cole's Dreamville Records. The 12-track album boasts features from 6LACK,EARTHGANG and Mereba. J.Cole himself produced two tracks on the project: D/vision and LAUDER. The album was fueled with success of the underground hit NEVER which was first released on February 10, 2016.
From the background information above,there are four key points which shows how the album marked the beginning of J.I.D's music career. Firstly it seems to act as a declaration to J.I.D being signed to J.Cole's Dreamville Records. Secondly, 6LACK,EARTHGANG,Mereba and JID are members of Spillage Village hence explaining why they collaborated with J.I.D in the first place. According to Wikipedia ,"Spillage Village is an American musical collective from Atlanta,Georgia. The group is composed of rappers,singers and producers,and was founded by the members of Earthgang. Spillage Village began its collaboration in the early 2010s at Hampton University in Virginia". Thirdly, the fact that J.Cole produced two tracks on the project D/vision and LAUDER clearly shows that J.Cole had a lot of faith in J.I.D being the successful rapper he is. Lastly the song NEVER was released on 2016 which became a hit after it featured on the album The Never Story which was released on 2017. This probably aided J.I.D to gain recognition hence why I believe the album marked the beginning of J.I.D's music career.
J.I.D telling his truth on The Never Story is another reason why it marked the beginning of his career. According to hiphopdx.com: Review:Dreamville Rookie J.I.D. Tells His Truth On The Never Story by Scott Glaysher,it states that,"it only takes one listen of J.I.D's The Never Story to realize why J.Cole and the good people at Dreamville decided to add him to their illustrious roster. The East Atlanta spitter's lyric-driven rap style is basically contemporary counterculture in the South;something that J.Cole himself dealt with during his slow-burning come up. In most cases these days,making out of the Atlanta scene might be easier than in most places Hip Hop hotbeds but to do so without touching a trap beat or messing with multiple layers of Auto-Tune is always impressive-or at least impressive enough to earn a Dreamville contract". When Scott Glaysher said,"..without touching a trap beat...",he seems to be making reference to the new rap music which is trap. The fact that J.I.D is not using trap beat in his music us one of the reasons why he earned a Dreamville contract. This probably shows that Dreamville is all about making sure that the old rap music lives on.
The fact that other people appreciate J.I.D as a rapper is another reason why The Never Story marked the beginning of his career. An article written by Taw Owens proves this. According to The Herald on the Hill,Taw Talks:J.I.D -The Never Story Album Review by Taw Owens October 6,2017 ,it states that "His first single to his new project got a music video that same day and it honestly blew me away. The song entitled, NEVER took me completely by surprise. The production is hard hitting and his flow is absolutely insane. The hook is catchy and the beat switch half way through the song us just too good. A promising look at what to expect from his debut album,it proved accurate".
From the information given by Taw Owens,it clearly shows that the song NEVER is one of the songs that stand out from the album. There could be another logical explanation why the song NEVER is a hit. According to Genius,it states that, "On the lead single from his debut studio album,J.I.D reflects on difficult times in his life in which he did not amount to anything and had very little to his name. Despite his hardships,however he NEVER felt sorry for himself and always worked hard to achieve what he desired". The fact that he never felt sorry for himself but always worked hard clearly shows the reason why other people appreciate J.I.D as a rapper.
The Never Story Tracklist:
Doo Wop
General
NEVER
EdEddnEddy
D/vision ft EARTHGANG
Hereditary
All Bad ft Mereba
Underwear
8701 ft 6LACK
Hoodbooger
Somebody
LAUDER
What could be the hidden meaning behind the title of the album, The Never Story? If we look at the list of songs like Doo Wop,General,NEVER and Somebody, they could explain the meaning behind the title of the album.
The song Doo Wop seems to be about inspiring others. This is shown where it said:
[Refrain:Sean McVerry & J.I.D] "...Everyone's a star (Everyone's a star) Every day's the move (Every day's the move) Everywhere you are (Everywhere, everywhere,everywhere's for you)..."
The song General officially introduces J.I.D as Atlanta's latest up and coming rapper as stated by Genius. Moreover Genius said,"The song serves as J.I.D's opportunity to push his talent forward to the public by sharing his story,and how he can compete with other rappers by utilizing his impressive flows and clever rhyme schemes".As stated by Genius lyrics like:
"Glad we did that,now I'm flying to Los Angeles
With a 8th in my pre-rolls.."
expresses his newfound gratitude for getting kicked out,as if he hadn't been he wouldn't have turned to rapping.
As I have mentioned on the point concerning J.I.D being appreciated as a rapper, NEVER is about J.I.D never feeling sorry for himself despite the hardships he faced in life.
The song Somebody is about uplifting others to become the best they can be in life. According to Genius it states that,"The song centers around how J.I.D didn't really know what to do with himself as a kid but he knew what he wanted. When he was picked up by J.Cole and signed to Dreamville,J.I.D saw the result of working hard on your rap game and it inspired him to become a better rapper. To become Somebody. This is shown on the lyrics:
"Everybody gotta be something / Everybody wanna be something / Be something,don't be nothing / Everybody gotta be something "
Therefore the title of the album The Never Story is about never giving up on the goals you want to achieve. Never feel sorry for yourself when you face hardships. Never be nothing,be somebody because everyone's a star who can achieve anything in life. This is why the album marked the beginning of J.I.D's music career.
Another reason why the album marked the beginning of J.I.D's music career is because he opens up about his personal life. For example on the song LAUDER, J.I.D opens up about his past,his dreams of going big in the rap industry and what he believes he was born to accomplish as stated by Genius.
J.I.D also opens up about his past relationship. As stated by Genius," Hereditary is a song that explains J.I.D's experience with a girl who's been around nothing but infidelity growing up. He wants to build a relationship with her, but he gets cheated on and realizes that it's all she knows. He wants the best for her and wants the relationship to work,but she is quick to manipulate him and take him for granted" The lyrics below explains why she cheated.
[Outro]
"Hey,we really need to talk But of course,you never answer your phone I just don't think this relationship is working out You never make time for me You never show me off You just never make me feel special I mean,I want to work things out,but I would need you to change first And we both know, that will never happen".
From the lyrics above,she felt neglected in the relationship which is why she cheated. The fact that J.I.D is opening up about his personal life is another reason why the album marked the beginning of his music career.
In conclusion,The Never Story album is about J.I.D opening up about his personal life and despite the hardships he never gave up to become successful as a rapper.
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