J. Cole Laments The “Lost Ones” In New Video

Last month J. Cole told us to expect “an emotional rollercoaster” when we profiled his chart-topping album Cole World: The Sideline Story in our Fall Music Preview. And he wasn’t kidding! The Roc Nation rapper switches from the swagger of recent single “Can’t Get Enough” to the emotional “Lost Ones”, a tale of a young man dealing with his girlfriend’s pregnancy. Watch the video, which features Antoinette Lenae alongside Cole, below. “With just a Dollar and a Dream, this video was shot in 2008 before I even had a record deal,” J. notes as the video begins. “3 years later, watching it still gives me the same emotions. This is dedicated to the Lost Ones.”

In the clip, the rapper finds out his girlfriend is pregnant, and advises her to get an abortion. “Me and you, we still kids, ourself / how we gonna raise a kid by ourselves?” Cole raps.

For the second verse, he switches to the female perspective in the story, and spits, “Now I’m pregnant and you don’t wanna get involved, motherfucker / trying to take away a life, is you God, motherfucker? I don’t think so.”

By the end of the video, Jermaine is standing at a colorful fence surrounding an empty playground, pondering his future as a father.

J. Cole talked to us recently about the importance of emotions on his album. “So if I had a super emotional record that’s supposed to touch your heart, I wanted to do the things to really make you cry when you hear it,” he said.

Do you think he achieved that goal with “Lost Ones”? Let us know below.