It’s as didactic and corny as anything in his catalog. Cole is an understated producer, usually relying on samples and horns instead of trunk-rattling 808s, but it doesn’t matter what his music sounds like, as long as his message stays “positive.” Cole’s most loyal followers, he’s the only one. This is the best of what we have right now. Think songs like Kendrick Lamar’s Alright, and Chance The Rapper’s gospel-infused Coloring Book album and T.I.’s latest mixtape Us Or Else. Killer Mike, T.I., Kendrick Lamar and a whole armada of rappers have emerged to blend mainstream production to lyrics about black liberation.
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But hip-hop, especially post-Black Lives Matter hip-hop, is full of sonically vibrant, woke music. Cole fans insist that he’s exempt from making music that’s enjoyable and stirring simply because it has a message. He can color his usually mundane and relatable lyrical content with another person’s stories of street life - and he can also keep his fans at arm’s length. Cole that demeans popular, supposedly shallow subject matter. He raps, Lil’ whatever - just another short bus rapper. It’s one of two videos included in the Eyez documentary in which he mostly hangs around with friends and makes music, and neither of the two songs made the album. Cole seems to know about and embrace on the video for Everybody Dies that he released in the lead-up to Eyez. Cole’s reputation and success as a rapper who doesn’t celebrate materialism has made him a symbol of cultural elitism for folks who can feel superior to fans of, say, a more simplistic kind of rapper like Lil Uzi Vert. Yes, self-righteous: Another common refrain on Twitter and Facebook is, “You need a certain level of intelligence to appreciate J.
But the fact he went platinum - sold more than 1 million albums at a time when this is rare and complicated - with no features has become a meme’d rallying cry for his fans and for people who make fun of his fans’ self-righteousness. Guest verses are as common in hip-hop as a line about sneakers. Cole and has no guest verses on the entire album. Forest Hills Drive was produced solely by J. Cole’s new Eyez is simply more boring sonically, even if, to his horde of die-hard fans, the subject matter of police brutality, incarceration, and love excuses the lack of musical excellence - as if enjoyable listens and lyrical depth are mutually exclusive. It lacks lyrical onslaughts like those on Drive’s Fire Squad. The new album lacks the production highs and anthemic nature of its predecessor’s G.O.M.D.
That album’s heavy baselines and triumphant horns are replaced on Eyez by subdued snares and softer melodic backdrops. The album’s projected to sell more than 500,000 copies in its first week of release.Įyez is more dry than Forest Hills Drive. Cole tells the story of a childhood friend who may or may not be a fictional representation of a real friend, and does so without any concern for being popular on terrestrial or satellite radio.
Cole - caught in the streets and trying to preserve his legacy. The new album, in a twist, tells the linear story of a man - not J. Cole’s fourth studio album in five years, fails to live up to the promise of his great 2014 Forest Hills Drive, but showcases him perfecting his craft as a storyteller, and striving for emotional potency. Cole, a musical messiah to many, either struggles to tell compelling stories - or his life is actually boring.
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