J.Cole yet again sends an album out very late in the year of 2016 just as he did in 2014 with Forest Hill Drive, and it carries the same feel as the last one, which was really like a photo album, or in other words a recollection of his past. This year was the year to fulfill a friend's wish and I believe J.Cole did exactly that with such precision and keeping the feel of a hip-hop album, but also with the help of jazzy and smooth instrumentals. maintains a somber feeling. I've listened to this whole album well over twenty times within the past month start not even to review it, but out of pure enjoyment of this album, but this album doesn't start here. This whole album begins years later after '03 Adolescence' off of his last album, well at least it is assumed that the young man he spoke of is the same one he speaks for in this album.
In '03 Adolescence', J.Cole speaks of going to his friend's house in verse two. They are just hanging out while smoking weed and talking about having sex with the girls in their class, and J. Cole asks him exactly how can he get in the game of selling drugs. His friend flips dime bags for $20 easily amongst their class and he slowly rises in wealth which has caught Jermaine's attention and to him was well worth the risk. This conversation was all while his friend's mom was home. HIs friend proceeds to answer him telling him that he isn't going to set him up to sell drugs but to continue on the great path he is heading. He says that he is jealous because Jermaine is graduating and going to get a degree, or at least has the option to, and all he is stuck with is two choices, either struggle or continue selling drugs and struggle in that game. He doesn't understand why he looks up to him, because he hangs out with Jermaine with the idea of surrounding himself with his role model to maybe live like his role model in the first place. Verse two ends with a slight thank you and with confidence to continue to move forward with the goals J.Cole has set for himself.
With this new album, we assume that the character in Jermaine's story in the track previously mentioned is indeed James McMillian Jr, his childhood friend who was murdered within the drug game. This album was for him, but more exactly for James's daughter, to tell her that he loved her, and that he stayed in the game for nothing but her. The catch was that he only were to make anything like this album if James were to die. J.Cole starts this album with the question of life. Is it worth going through all this? He states that there is something weighing down on him. That he can hear the bell ringing and as it rings it's volume increases. Is it his time or is it him wanting to go? The song directly afterward 'Immortal' carries a real important phrase of "real n*ggas don't die", completely going against the first song 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'. He asks the question of how long can he continue forward with the mentality that he has which has engulfed him while in the rap career he tried to pursue. There are two songs 'She's Mine Pt.1' and 'She's Mine Pt.2' that is an appreciation song for his own daughter. A graceful song that really shines Jermaine's love for his own daughter and his friend's daughter. He does this throughout the album, reflecting upon his own situation with his daughter vs. James and his daughter. His song 'Change' goes through the ideas of violence and maturation of the black community. Speaking that the violence needs to stop, and we need to shoot for goals and not each other. He explicitly mentions his friend and the details of his murder in this song. Ending with the sounds of a funeral towards the end and soft piano and bass closing out the song really wrapping up the end and emotion nicely.
The real show and powerful number on this album is the last track titled '4 Your Eyez Only'. This song lines out everything between him and his friend's relationship and their ideologies together. Here Jermaine brings in dialogue between him and James and we really get a clear understanding of what this album stood for. We hear James's side of the whole story through the excellent lyricism of J.Cole. The ideology of a "real n*gga" is brought back into play especially in this song. Both Jermaine and James both had the idea of what a "real n*gga" was and in response had gone in the path that James did. The last verse holds one of the last conversations with James that Jermaine had with him, which was a phone call asking him to make an album for his daughter telling her his story because he feels like the recent situations will result in his death. That he has had a vision in which he doesn't live for much longer and we know now that James was unfortunately right.
I believe this whole album is a chill listen to, but is definitely worth closely listening and taking appreciation of everything Jermaine had to offer here. We all should thank James like J.Cole has. Thank you for what you've helped create by telling J.Cole he had more to offer the world than chasing materialistic things.
May you rest in peace James McMillian Jr.
