Villuminati by J. Cole Song Info
Cole sets the mood for "Born Sinner", which is also an ongoing theme, by wittingly announcing this body of work “way darker this time” – the previous time being his debut album. “Villuminati” is about the pressure Cole feels to succeed with Born Sinner. He is torn between making original music and staying true to himself on one side, and making marketable radio music, selling his artist’s soul to the devil on the other side. He subliminally uses two artist and the “Illuminati” to portray this struggle: Jay Z, who signed Cole and who is often accused of being a member of the Illuminati, symbolizes the evil side dedicated to radio hits and profit with which he can brag, while Tupac, who has an album titled Don Killuminati, symbolizes the good side dedicated to rap as an artform. The song’s title incorporates the suffix of the name of his hometown – “Ville” (as in Fayetteville, North Carolina) and the prefix of the notorious “Illuminati” organization. This intro track emphasizes the irony that, although we are born “pure” and “innocent”, we have innate evil within us and yet we continuously try to live our lives by bending around it while others choose to succumb to this evil; hence the stylization of his name (the halo representing “good" and the devil horns representing “evil”) that he’d used for years.
