With J. Cole itโs hard not to feel like that proud best friend whoโs been telling everyone for years that heโs gonna be the next big thing, and yelling โI told you!โ when it finally happens. Iโve been rocking with Cole since my college days and ever since I heardย The Warm Up, Iย knew that he had something special. I was right there watching him grow, evolve, and become more confident in his craft. So I was too proud when he did the damn near impossible, and went platinum with no features, no promo, and no radio hits. He had officially arrived. It was also a moment when he seemed to really figure out who he was and what mattered to him. That was two years ago and Iโve been anxiously waiting for what would becomeย 4 Your Eyez Onlyย ever since.
โTo die a young legend or live a long life unfulfilled
โCause you wanna change the world
But while alive you never will
โCause they only feel you after you gone, or Iโve been told
And now Iโm caught between beinโ heard and gettinโ oldโ
His last album was a pretty minimalist, paired down affair andย 4 Your Eyez Only takes that a step even further. The production is pretty sedated, outside of maybe โImmortalโ there arenโt any songs with hard hitting, upbeat sounds. Itโs a pretty mellow arrayย of beats that donโt really do anything or go anywhere of note. They actually had me falling into a lull about halfway through before the fantastic โNeighborsโ picked me up a little. This is probably my least favorite produced project of his to date, in spite of it having the most intricate use of instrumentation Iโve ever heard from him. The overly sedated production could be forgiven, but some inexplicable choices could not be. He includedย โDeja Vuโ, even though it has almost the exact same beat as Bryson Tillerโs far more interesting โExchange.โย They say theย beat got stolen, but when it came out first and did it better, does it really matter? Deciding not to include โFalse Prophetsโ and โEverybody Diesโ didnโt make any sense either. They wouldโve easily been some of the best songs on the album.ย Poor decision making.
โFuck the fame and the fortuneโwell, maybe not the fortune
But one thing is for sure though, the fame is exhaustinโ
Thatโs why I moved away, I needed privacy
Surrounded by the trees and Ivy Leagueโ
4 Your Eyez Only is in all intents and purposes, small scale. Itโs a very intimate affair where he raps about personal struggles with fame and privilege, the loss of friends, and the struggles of everyday life.ย His ability to spit relatable verses and paint vivid pictures is so goodย that it โalmostโ makes the production unimportant. โ4 Your Eyez Onlyโ is enough on itโs own to justify the existence of this project. The tale he raps from beginning to end on the album is genuine, heartfelt, and real. Ultimately, heโs one of the most important hip-hop voices of this generation, but he struggled with meshing his message with interesting music.
Have you heardย 4 Your Eyez Only? Whatโd you think about it? Did you find his beat selection dull, like I did? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to leave your rating for the album.
