I long for him to stop relying on stimulating emotions by telling us instead of evoking emotion by showing us.Cole relies on on stimulating emotions by telling instead of evoking emotion by showing.
On those EPs, there was no falling back on 90s nostalgia by jumping on famous samples (Villuminati and LAnd of the Snakes) or paying tribute to the greats (Let Nas Down). When he made a point of 2014 Forest Hills Drive not having any singles or features, I was excited: perhaps this was going to be an artistic statement whereas his previous two albums were mildly enjoyable bits of pop rap that mostly didnt pop at all. J. Coles no-singles move recalls Yeezus, which he had competed and outsold just the previous year. However, West changed his mind on the zero-single approach afterwards so it wouldnt be surprising if J. Cole follows suit.) Perhaps we were going to get something out of left field, like Drakes Nothing Was the Same, which dropped the maximalistic pop rap approach of Take Care for something much more minimal, barely featuring any guests at all. Coles own Yeezus Turns out, all of those moves were false advertising. On 2014 Forest Hills Drive, weve still got the same ol Cole, but with diminishing returns and without any friends to help him. If youll recall, Miguel helped elevate Power Trip into one of the better songs on Born Sinner ). With respects to diminishing returns, both his rapping and his production seems to be worse than ever before. The third verse of January 28th might be the worst response to Kendrick Lamars Control verse Ive heard; J. Cole compares himself to Rakim before feebly namedropping five people and declaring that hes God in his typical rhyme-a-word-with-itself-ness: You aint the God Nigga, Cole the God. Elsewhere, he evokes the awkwardness of standing up in high school with an erection twice on Wet Dreamz (Make it hard for me to stand up; Teacher please dont make me stand up). You can see the M. Night Shyamalan-esque switch of the third verse coming from a mile away. Those are the first two proper songs, and the following 03 Adolescence is challenging from the get-go, with its Disney strings and the unnecessary awkwardness of I wish I wont so shy. ![]() A Tale of 2 Citiez could gain from being just a tad faster to match the menace, but the menace is there, both in the twisted soul sample punctuating each line and with J. Coles own rapping (rhyming tints with rinsed with since with limits with pimps and finally glimpse in the first verse). Meanwhile, G.O.M.D. Fire Squad, which sounds like J. Coles endorsing of Jay Zs disgusting Anna Mae incident of yesteryear, he at least re-earns my favor with Why with every black nigga gotta be famous Why every broke black nigga gotta be brainless Nevertheless, its troublesome to hear lines like: Niggas is faker than anime Me I never hate, get cake like Anna Mae, woah Eat the cake, bitch, eat the damn cake. The Lil Jon interpolation may suggest this is ironic, but knowing J. After that, its another mixed bag, spanning the occasional quotable (I came fast like 9-1-1 in white neighborhoods from No Role Modelz) to the cringe-inducing bullshit (Give a virgin the urge to rape me, nigga please from Apparently). The 14 minute closer Note to Self is a one-listen only affair, if that, but Hello and Love Yourz make up for it. The former builds up to a sprint both beat-wise and rapping-wise, and the latter is the most touching song on the album, ending with these lines: Always gonna be a bigger house somewhere, but nigga feel me Long as the people in that motherfucker love you dearly Always gonna be a whip thats better than the one you got Always gonna be some clothes thats fresher than the ones you rock Always gonna be a bitch thats badder out there on the tours But you aint never gonna be happy till you love yours If Ive seemed unduly harsh on J. I long for him to stop relying on rhyming the same word with itself, i.e.
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