Following up major success with his last album 2014 Forest Hills Drive going double platinum, J. Cole gives us another masterpiece that captures not his own perspective, but the perspective of someone else.
That person you love and have high hopes for, who deserves the best but is unable to escape their demons and eventually themselves. This project is filled with elaborate story-telling, something we've come to expect from Cole, while simultaneously reminding us that even the most intellectual artist's life is filled with speculation and ambiguity. Not everyone is a Cole fan, and to be honest I myself was not the biggest fan of his last release despite the high level of success it achieved. However, 4 Your Eyez Only forces you to listen and to think. There's an inner struggle in all of us, regardless of social class or any situation. We all feel, we all experience love and loss, and as our lives progress there's always a lingering feeling of uncertainty. In short, you don't have to be "woke" to understand what it is that Cole is saying.
The album starts with "For Whom the Bell Tolls", setting the stage for another Cole project founded on deep thought and self-expression, with the inner city youth's struggle of separating themselves from the environment that they grew up in. "Immortal" follows the intro with a beat that hits hard, lyrics with an attitude that express the feeling of immortality when you're young and making fast money. The underlying ignorance and naivety of being young and isolated are expressed when the song starts off talking about being broke, that "dollar and a dream" theme that has come to be associated with Cole throughout his career, and progresses towards harsh truths like losing friends and losing innocence. Keeping in mind that J. Cole is now a successful artist and college graduate of St. John's University, it's clear by the beginning of "Deja Vu" that this album is not from Cole's own perspective.
One of the biggest questions since the album dropped is whether or not "Deja Vu" or Bryson Tiller's "Exchange" came first, but regardless the song is textbook for a Cole album. There's that one song on every project he's done in which he expresses his love for that 'girl next door', and this is it. People love Cole for being relatable and genuine, and this song expresses that side of Cole perfectly. This girl is beautiful both inside and out, but she is limited to her surroundings, and no matter how much this person loves her, he knows pursuing her would set him back on his journey to escape his environment. "Ville Mentality" gives us a six-string beat that mellows the tone down, as he speculates "How long can I survive with this mentality?" The album begins to climax here, as that ignorant tone of "Immortal" has now grown up with the man and will now seem to die with him, and the man has accepted that. With both "She's Mine Pt. 1" and "She's Mine Pt. 2", the speaker's humanity is displayed through the love he expresses first for the girl he falls in love with and later the daughter that they have together. Despite the tough and cold image that he lives up to, there is nothing he wouldn't do for the two girls in his life. These two tracks remind us of our humanity, and that even the worst of us all have the ability to love unconditionally.
It isn't until the final track, named after the album itself, that the listener is now made fully aware of the fact that this album isn't from Cole's perspective, but the perspective of a friend with a lot of good in their troubled soul. For almost nine minutes, Cole speaks through this person as if he were speaking to his young daughter about his hardships. The album then comes to a close, and it left me a new fan of J. Cole. For those who felt they still didn't truly know him following 2014 Forest Hills Drive, this album proves just how genuine the guy is. A timeless classic for sure, and a perfect way to close out an eventful year for Hip-Hop as a whole.
Final Verdict:
A. Cole has perfected the art of storytelling over cold beats and acoustic 'coffee-shop' riffs. A few hot tracks like "Change", "Neighbors", and "Foldin Clothes" make sure we can bump this new Cole in social settings. A handful of hits without straying too far from the big picture, a simple formula for albums that typically come to be defined in one word: Classic.
