J Cole 4 Your Eyez Only
On December 9, 2014, J Cole released 2014 Forest Hills Drive, a surprise album that ended up going “double platinum with no features,” creating a meme in the process. Two years to the day, Cole returned with 4 Your Eyez Only, employing an almost identical release strategy. The new record is clearly a direct sequel to its predecessor, possessing many of the same traits: honest and heartfelt lyrics, mellow, jazzy production and of course, no guest-artist features.
Once mentioned in the same conversations as Drake, Cole employs a similarly chilled-out style, but his socio-political lyrical content is more reminiscent of Talib Kweli. Fatherhood seems to be at the forefront of these discussions, as he attributes some of his own personal shortcomings due to a missing parental unit on the lush, violin-driven “She’s Mine Pt. 1.” The theme gets explored in full on the album’s title track, a chilling, nine-minute magnum opus told from the perspective of several different absent fathers.
His desire to be a better man is considered on “Foldin’ Clothes,” which finds him passionately aspiring to be a good significant other. Later, on “She’s Mine Pt. 2,” he zeroes in on consumerism in a very timely, truthful lyrical rant on Black Friday and corporate Christmas.
It remains to be seen if Cole can strike gold (er, platinum) twice by utilizing the same approach as last time. Regardless, 4 Your Eyez Only is one of the strongest, smartest and best-produced hip-hop records of the year.
