Review Summary: How can a mixtape be this good?
J. Cole, where do I begin. He drops the mixtape of the year that is completely overshadowed by the massive success of Drake's own, So Far Gone, he gains the attention on Jay-Z, and is one of the few artist who got to spit on The Blueprint 3. J. Cole needs that extra boast to become the success I know that he can become. This mixtape only shows how mature and great his music is.
The album starts up with "Welcome", a great introduction that makes this feel more like an album than anything. It truely introduces you to J. Cole and what he's all about. He is honestly the mature Lil Wayne. Like Wayne, he can rhyme about absolutely nothing, and make it sound very good. Only difference is that Wayne still comes off sounding like he's not talking about anything, while J. Cole's lyrics put him on a whole different level. He continues this trend of spiting ill lines that are talking about nothing with "Grown Simba", "Just to Get By", "Dead Presidents", "Royal Flush", "Til Infinity", and "Hold It Down". When J. Cole is on topic however, he makes some of the best tracks i've heard from a artist in a while. Whether it be "Can I Live's vivid description on a man dying without fufilling all his worldly desires, or "Light's Please's" description of a girl who doesnt want a real relationship and him not sure of what he wants. His storytelling ability is truely a gift. "Dreams" creates a perfect scenerio that make him seem so human with him crushing over a girl he doesnt even know and eventually gets rejecting by her, and plots to kill her boyfriend. Sounds crazy, but is told perfectly. "Dollar and a Dream II" is about coming up in the game. The highlights of this are truely the descriptive tracks on this album, opps i meant mixtape.
Every Hip-Hop album though isn't without its faults. He makes three straight skippers in "Knock Knock", "Get Away", and "Heartache". But turns in some get tracks after it to make it up with "Ladies", "The Badness", "and "Hold It Down". He even turns in some motivational tracks with "I Get Up", and "World is Empty". Throughout this mixtape (album), J. Cole shows very great talent.
Whether you like underground rap or not. There is no denying that J. Cole is in two words, The S**t. He is gonna be a force in this game if he can get the right promotion, and with Jay behind him, there's no telling how far he can go. Tracks such as "Grown Simba", "Can I Live", "Til Infinity". and "Lights Please" are truely album quality tracks that I would spend my hard earn dollars on. If this is only the tip of the ice berg for J. Cole, then there is truely no limits to where he can go.
