J. Cole is truly an artist that in my opinion is just okay. I've heard his songs on the radio and even caught some music videos over the last few years, but honestly, he's never been a very compelling artist to me. Sure, the stuff I'd heard was solid, but I never got the impression that Cole had a sound or vision that was uniquely his. Some of that rubbed off with his last full length 2014 Forest Hills Drive, an album that is equal parts excellent and mediocre; amazing highs like "Fire Squad" are put up against filler like "St Tropez", leading to an album that is worthwhile, but not the classic that a lot of his fans claim it to be. But, going into this new album, I was honestly pretty excited; Cole has been holding down solid features over the last couple of years, and the two tracks he released ahead of the album release, "everyone dies" and "False Prophets" were both great. However, neither of these tracks appear on this new LP, 4 Your Eyez Only.
And honestly, I was a little bummed to find that out, but after giving this album a full listen, I do understand why they were excluded. And while I won't go in too much depth with the concept of this record, I will say that it reminds me especially of Kendrick's good kid, M.A.A.D City, not just for its lyrics about gang life mixed with the struggle of raising a family in it, but also for the way Cole manages to rap effectively from the viewpoint of someone else. It also helps this album avoid a lot of the trite, "started from nothing" tropes that always cloud up J. Cole records. I get it, you weren't always rich and successful, but I'd like to know more about you as a person! All that aside, lyrically, Cole holds things down for the most part (though don't ask him to rhyme anything with Almond Milk), and I'd say this is his finest work in terms of concept thus far.
Instrumentally, the album keeps things classy with a lot of strings ("She's Mine Pt. 1 & 2") with a few more energetic tracks peppered in here and there, most notably "Immortal" and my personal favorite "Change". But for the most part, this album is a somber one, filled with a lot of sad imagery, which is justified through the overall concept. This is especially true of the self-titled closer, the longest track on the album and the point where the album reveals its hand in terms of what Cole is trying to do with this entire LP. It is a very sobering tune which rose my estimation of the project a whole lot on my first listen.
Because honestly, without the context of the rest of the album and the concept surrounding it, I don't think these songs, save for "Change" and "Immortal", would stand on their own. But this isn't too surprising, Cole has expressed his desire to forgo the traditional album cycle, with this being his second album in a row with zero promotional singles. But for me, it means that in order to fully enjoy any of these tracks, one must listen to the entire LP, which does limit the replay-ability a bit. Not a deal-breaker, but when most of the album is stuck in such a somber mood, with lots of "okay" singing from Cole, I feel like I'd have to be in a very specific mood to throw this thing on.
So, aside from some samey-ness overall and a few questionable lines and singing, I still think this is a great LP, and recommend it to any fan of rap, even those who maybe had no interest in Cole at first. I feel like he's really moving towards something truly amazing.
8.0/10
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