Breaking down J. Cole's K.O.D. | Mental Health Awareness Month

Take me to the Youtube Channel!

KOD was the second song on the album. It is my belief that KOD in this song stands for King Overdose because Cole is rapping about a type of king who has overdosed on money and drugs to numb pain. 

King Overdosed is Kill Edward but also relates to a gang leader in Fayetteville, NC who was recently arrested and sentenced to 35 years in prison for gang activity and drug trafficking. 
How did I make this connection? In the song, Cole raps, 

• “ How I grew up, only few would've loved ‘
  Member' I got my first view of the blood
  I'm hangin' out and they shoot up the club…”

He talks about his hometown “how I grew up,” and then raps about what he saw in his hometown…the blood shooting up the club. 
The name of the gang that he was leading is called, A.T.M, a song also on J. Cole’s album. the gang stood for Addicted To Money, and I would not be surprised if this is what was going through Cole’s mind. He was known for “distributing large amounts of narcotics, primarily cocaine and crack over almost 10 years.”
So if we take this line about distributing cocaine to make one rich and ascertain power, does this give us little more insight to the hook? 

“This is what you call a flip

Ten keys from a quarter brick

Bentley from his mama's whip

K.O.D., he hard as shit”

In the hook, Cole is speaking about flipping product. “Ten keys from a quarter brick” which is taking him from his mama’s whip to a Bentley.” He’s flipping one thing to get another…use what you have to get what you want, yes. But one more component, 

"My homie got pharmaceutical plug

I smoke the drug and it run through my vein

I think it's workin' it's numbin' the pain

Don't give a f*** and I'm somewhat insane

Don't give a f*** and I'm somewhat insane

Yeah, at this shit daily, sipped so much Actavis

I convinced Actavis that they should pay me"

How can one sell such a destructive drug and cause such violence among a community with no remorse, no conscious? Drugs? He is flipping his product, but also addicted to drugs. He is able to flip this product by feeling no pain because of the drug he smokes and the Actavis, which was once used to make Promethazine, a cough syrup mix that caused feelings of numbness. So essentially, being a drug addict to numb the pain and flip the product is the price he pays for the power and money (bentley from his momma's whip.) He coped with the drugs to keep him flipping. 

We all are in the midst of trying to flip something, whether its trying to turn one degree into 2. Flip our businesses, our families, relationships, marriages, etc, but here lies the question… HOW ARE WE DOING IT? What are we coping with to get the bentley, the house on the hills? The PhD? the Scholarship? Because it may show us great benefit, but can be harming us internally to continue. 

Starve the Ego. Feed the Soul.