 Baw, what's up everybody once again it's Brand Man Sean and today we got the first of my big three series covering Kendrick Lamar, J Cole and Drake and today we're starting with why J Cole has such a rabid, cult-like fan-based. So just to jump in how he established his connection with his fans in the first place, you're talking about simplicity, stories, and authenticity. Simplicity in the fact that the way he delivers his lyrics, if you saw it in my SZA video, the way he delivers his lyrics is basically straightforward, it's not too complex, and those lyrics are more powerful and then you combine that with the stories that he tells. Like I remember the first time that I heard Girl of My Dreams back in what 2009, 2010 I was like and then of course there's other small things like he re-bought the house that he grew up in and he's renting it out or giving it to single mothers so not only does he constantly normalize himself but he also connects with people on a real level by actually doing things for people and he seems so relatable which you obviously hear a lot when it comes to J Cole. Those are the things that essentially established the connection and created very strong fans. His fans level of love and defense for him however has a lot to do with those other two guys in Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Drake and Kendrick Lamar have been getting a far higher level of media exposure than J Cole whether that's intentionally or not but from a fan's perspective what that appears to be like is why are these other people getting so much attention and overexposed it positions J Cole as looking to be underrated and when fans already have a lot of love for you when you start to appear to be under exposed and underrated in the relation to your contemporaries their love for you starts to grow even more because they're like yo why my man's not getting that look so now on top of that you take all these things which increase the outspokenness of J Cole's fan base and how much they actually love and appreciate what he does for the game and then combine what that outspokenness does on the opposite end of the spectrum when people really start to root for somebody you will also have that equal side that's really pushing against that person right strong fans breed strong haters that's that positive and negative end of the spectrum that you need just like a battery to work is just a part of life but psychologically what that does is it creates this cycle there's been studies that actually confirm how when people are challenged particularly in reference to their stronger convictions then those convictions actually become stronger themselves every single time they get challenged so what that is mentally is antifragile which means whenever it's attacked it becomes stronger whenever y'all start hating on J Cole my love for J Cole grows stronger and then you kind of have this other end of the spectrum where some people are like hey whenever I hear about how awesome J Cole is my hate for J Cole kind of grows stronger too and then once again you take all of these things and consider the fact that he made the climb to fame but that he pulled back for reasons basically saying I'm not with this game I want to be on my own way that only created more love for him and it's not about starting off as a rapper being like that it's because the fact that he actually got to a level where he did not have to be that way and then became that way being normal is nothing special being normal is only special in abnormal circumstances people appreciate J Cole's normalcy because it's clear that he doesn't have to be that way it's a choice to be at that level of exposure and be in front of the camera when people see that you turned away that's where that superpower and rabbit fan base is created J Cole and the whole landscape of the big three actually feels a void and we'll talk about what that is a little bit more in the Drake and Kendrick Lamar videos to come that's it you know what to do hit that subscribe button