Listening to music served as a bridge to enhance connections with my friends by developing an empathy for struggles unique to them.
J Cole’s album, 4 Your Eyez Only, gave me insight problems that my friends experienced in their personal lives outside of school. In the final track of the album also titled, “4 Your Eyez Only”, Cole raps “it’s several ways I could’ve went out, too many to count. Was it the trigger happy crackers that the badges give clout? Was it the young n***** blasting frustrated ’cause the cash runnin’ out?” In the song he’s explaining that whenever he steps outside of his house, he’s always in danger of being arrested without reason and being shot or being jumped by thugs who are running low on money. On a more personal level, this lyric, in addition to many others in Cole’s songs, helped me comprehend how a friend of mine who lives in Carson, 3 houses down from a trap house, doesn’t always reach rehearsal on time. Living three houses down from a hub of gang activity isn’t always safe. Essentially, he put the album content into a deeper perspective for me; there’s an unspoken curfew in the street. He can’t just leave his house safely whenever he wants.
By sharing this song with me, my friend has enabled me to understand obstacles he faces at home and why he is unable to leave on time for rehearsals. Cole’s album helped bring up a conversation that needed to be heard. The conversation about these obstacles he faces at home enabled me to realize and understand the hardships unique to him and no one else in the drumline, thus allowing me to empathize with other aspects of his life apart from drumline and connect with him based on his personal experiences. The lyrics allowed me to connect on deeper level with my friend that goes beyond our experiences together in drumline that we both experienced. Being able to understand his life outside school added another dimension to out friendship or another “platform” to connect through. In essence, “4 Your Eyez Only” was a piece of music that aided in developing a stronger connection with a friend. In contrast to how my friend and I connected through shared experiences of rehearsals and competitions, listening to music was a bridge that connected us through experiences that we both didn’t share. Inherently, listening to music can serve as a bridge to understanding people of different backgrounds, thus allowing you to connect with those people on a profound level.
