“With his third album, the North Carolina rapper J. Cole is certain he’s made his classic; he’ll tell you as much partway through the 15-minute credit roll “Note to Self”. In its quest to canonize, the record eschews both singles and guests: It’s a bold move, and where it floats, it soars, but it flops gloriously when it doesn’t.”
“It’s ironic that social media jerks tease Jermaine Cole with “J. Cole went platinum with no features.” Once seen as an understudy to generational talents like Kendrick Lamar and Drake, the North Carolina musician didn’t reach artistic fruition until 2014 Forest Hills Drive, when he abandoned the typical cameo-heavy big-budget formula for an idiosyncratic, self-produced organic sound that plumbed h”
“Even after stripping back the hooks and instrumentals, and giving himself center stage, there isn't much outside of J. Cole's baseline technical abilities that makes him a compelling rapper and lyricist.”
“A good album that should’ve and could’ve been great. J.Cole is a talented rapper there’s no getting away from that, but this album with the many high points it has, has so many low, boring points that drag. Cole’s storytelling is brilliant and his rapping throughout the album is great. Best songs for me are ‘January 28th’ ‘Wet Dreamz’ ‘O3’ Adolescence’ ‘A Tale Of 2 Citiez’ ‘No Role Modelz’”
“This whole album was fire. From the intro all the way to him shouting out his family and friends at the end. I loved the beats on this album and the storytelling I feel like he changes his flows on the songs and it just goes well together. Added a lot of songs from this album like Love Yourz, Intro and January 28th.”
“fav song: A tale of 2 citiez *going back thru and listing my fav song and fav feature of each album”
