I think he has 2 or 3 good to really good albums, two of which I loved at the time. The rest is perfectly fine but also boring. Then there are some pre-debut mixtape tracks that are cool.
Agree that J. Cole is completely fine (if a little boring) but is also one of those things that, the more someone tries to convince me it's better than it is, the less I like it lol
This is way too long but there’s good stuff. Cole was never one of my guys. I don’t think he’s ever put out a masterpiece
He didn’t, but I think Born Sinner was pretty great and like one of the last of what was already a dying or dead breed of mainstream rap albums that were prevalent in the 90s and 00s
It’s unfortunate because his guest verse on “Johnny P’s Caddy” is one of my favorites and it’s a reminder he’s capable of so much more
J Cole is a rapper that I tried to get into so, so many times in the 2010s and it just never clicked...and then I actually really enjoyed The Off-Season. That said, diving into a 24-song J-Cole project seems super overwhelming.
JID made him step up on Off Deez, that was a really good guest feature Don't think I can get myself to listen to an hour of Cole though lol
I agree that he's totally competent and far from "bad" but I don't think he really knows how to structure songs. After listening to an album everything is immediately forgotten
Cole never hit with me and I always thought it was dumb he was lumped in with Kendrick and Drake who are both waaaaay better at the lanes they’re in
He has a lot of the right pieces - good production and obvious talent as an MC but something is missing that brings it all together. It sounds good but no individual songs really standout. To compare him to one of his biggest contemporaries and sure it's kinda unfair because of how much I love Kendrick but every single song on GNX is identifiable as "oh its this song!" Cole is in that weird spot where he isn't the popstar that Drake is or the rap hero that Kendrick is.
I really like forest hill drive and 4 your eyes only but even then I consider those good and not classics me and my unc coworker always get into it cause he’s a j Cole stan and I call him mid
His ceiling is extremely high, and it makes his releases so frustrating to think about when none of em really land how they need to
I remember really liking his mixtapes before his debut as well as Born Sinner and 2014 Forest Hills Drive but ya. Not my guy
I disagree. He used to make real “songs”, like on Born Sinner. He just doesn’t want to. That’s not a good thing, but it is what I think is happening.
Ok maybe I meant he used to but doesn't anymore. To be honest I haven't had the desire to revisit that early stuff so I probably forgot
I'm also curious what he means by "bonus" for the two tracks at the end of each disc, are these actually bonus tracks in any way, or are they like spiritually bonus but part of all versions of the album?
It goes hand in hand with calling the “discs” disc 29 and disc 39. It’s nonsense that only happens because traditional A&Rs don’t exist anymore and nobody ever tells these guys no.