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J. Cole doesn’t seem to be happy with people (read: media) that are too analytical, and too quick, when it comes to rating new music. At least that’s what seems to be the case if you caught his rant against critics and anyone “f-cking up Hip-Hop,” via Twitter.

The Roc Nation rapper kicks things off by commenting on sales projections, and just kept going from there. “Projections f-cking up hip hop,” he tweeted in the early a.m. Wednesday (June 19). “First week tally’s f-ckin up hip hop. Your 1 listen reviews are f-cking up hip hop. To keep it real, your whole publication is f-ckin up hip hop.

Cole never does the mention the publication, or any particular critic, by name, though.

The North Carolina-born rapper then went on to say that fans and artists like Drake and Kendrick Lamar are saving Hip-Hop, while dropping more vitriol toward’s “critics.” “The PEOPLE are saving hip hop. You niggas are Critics. Not fans. F-ck critics. The people decide,” he wrote.

Artists often fall back on the “critics are not fans” crutch whenever they read something about their art that they don’t like. The reality is that critics are indeed fans first. Why else would they take the time to listen to the material and offer a proper “critique” of the music, good or bad?

There are occasions when critics overstep their bounds and slam an artist unfairly. Such as Cole’s mention of albums getting reviewed without the music being properly digested. However, without knowing who J. Cole was calling out in his rant specifically, you can’t really determine if his ire was justified or not.

But hey, props to Cole for speaking/tweeting his mind and not deleting the words shortly after. J. Cole’s sophomore album, Born Sinner, is out now. Give it more than one listen.

Peep all the tweets in the following pages.

Photo: CBS

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