September 27 was a great day for North Carolina. Phonte (formerly of Little Brother and currently of Grammy nominated group The Foreign Exchange), Grammy award winning producer 9th Wonder (also formerly of Little Brother), and J. Cole all released albums on this day.
Even though Phonte and 9th have a strong following, they are still considered indie hip hop artists. J. Cole has been warming up ever since he signed onto Jay-Z's Roc Nation. Cole has been gaining exposure with his successful string of mixtapes and guest spots on albums (Jay's Blueprint 3 and Reflection Eternal's Revolutions Per Minute for example).
You would think that having Jay-Z as a mentor would pretty much set you up for ultimate success, but take a look back at the people Jay had on his team before. Kanye West is the only exception because he's tried to be his own man from the jump and had such a following as a producer. The others have either fallen off the planet (Memphis Bleek) or can't stay out of jail (Beanie Sigel).
Cole is a very good lyricist. His mixtapes have garnered a lot of attention. He has some of the same storytelling ability Jay-Z has. Cole makes okay songs good, really good, so there shouldn't be any problems with his album, right?
Wrong.
The album itself is good, but it could have been better. The problem is that the album sounds like his mixtapes, particularly more like Friday Night Lights, which isn't bad; but this tells me that Friday Night Lights should have been the debut album.
Think about it. Friday Night Lights did more than show promise. It showed us that he was ready, but he stayed on the shelf for a few months trying to build buzz when he was already at his peak. This album release was simply ill-timed.
There are songs on this album that we have heard for years in rap time. The song with Drake was on FNL, and there's a version without Drake floating around for years in literal time. There are old concepts that have been reincarnated again, see 'Dollar & A Dream III' and 'Lights Please'.
These are songs that are good, but it's basically old material and I would have expected some artistic growth from him. The album is basically another mixtape. I think the new mixtape era has ruined albums now. Mixtapes are sounding more like albums with original beats, and albums are sounding more like mixtapes with disjointed tracks that don't fit a concept.
What are the actual singles from this album? There's 'Can't Get Enough' and 'Mr Nice Watch'. I heard about all of these at about the same time, and that's just a bad move because then we hear these during the same hour the radio isn't playing commercials.
The fact that this album is a mainstream rap album and is backed by Roc Nation (for now, and that's depending on rumors about Cole being dropped) means that the album will at least go to the number one Billboard spot for at least one week. But an album that goes number one isn't the best album around, look at Tha Carter IV as a prime example.
J. Cole is ferocious on the mic and is another example of Southern MCs having more skill than some are willing to believe. But I think the way the album is crafted with its unoriginal thoughts makes it not a great album. It's good, because of Cole's skill level. If the rumor of J. Cole being dropped is true, I would like a label to pick him up and put a proper push behind him. A proper push and new material can work wonders.
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