Album Review: J. Cole- Cole World: The Sideline Story

Average Rating: 9.2/10

Overall Rating:9.7/10

1. Intro

         2. Dollar and a Dream III (7.5/10)

         3. Can’t Get Enough Ft. Trey Songz (10/10)

         4. Lights Please (6.5/10)

         5. Interlude

         6. Sideline Story (10/10)

         7. Mr. Nice Watch Ft. Jay-Z (10/10)

         8. Cole World (10/10)

         9. In The Morning Ft. Drake (5.5/10)

         10. Lost Ones (10/10)

         11. Nobody’s Perfect Ft. Missy Eliot (7.5/10)

         12. Never Told (10/10)

         13. Rise and Shine (10/10)

         14. God’s Gift (10/10)

         15. Breakdown (9.5/10)

         16. Work Out (10/10)

         17. Nothing Lasts Forever (10/10)

         18. Daddy’s Little Girl (10/10)

         19. Who Dat (9/10)

    For the last two years a wave of new artists who are expected to lead the next generation of hip-hop came out with their debut albums. B.o.B had his debut The Adventures of Bobby Ray and in my opinion it passed with flying colors, Drake had a fair debut with his Thank Me Later album, Tinie Tempah had Disc-Overy as an excellent debut, Tyler The Creator made it with this year’s Goblin, Big Sean got his big break after four years making mixtapes with his Finally Famous album, and now, J. Cole has a shot at continuing the ladder of great new generation rappers with his debut album “Cole World: The Sideline Story”.

     It’s been seven years since J. Cole started working on his music. Since 2005 he’s been recording songs, making mixtapes, getting himself ready for this one moment, his big break. The album “Cole World: The Sideline Story”, so does he need to pull this off? Yes, it’s very important that he makes a great first impression to a much bigger crowd, not just Rock-A-Fella fans or huge fans of people affiliated with Jay-Z or whatever, me, as for one, I heard his mixtapes, he makes great music, but some artists tend to choke in their debut, is Cole one of them?

     Cole had all of of his skills all on display on this album. He produced almost every track here, he showed off some of his depth lyrically, he showed us some of his story telling skills, and sometimes just showing his rhyming skills in general, and honestly I think that’s what made this album differ from other debut albums, a lot of artists try switching up their skills or try expanding too fast with a lot of other styles or try working with other artists too fast, but Cole went on the right track here in my opinion. Cole wanted to show his fans and new listeners what he could really do in and out of the recording booth, and that’s what he exactly showed in his debut “Cole World: The Sideline Story”.

     Cole World: The Sideline Story mainly featured two sides of Cole’s music. One side was made of tracks that was just Cole having fun with his rhymes and skill, which was basically just Cole talking about the usual fun stuff and really nothing emotional or personal, the second side had the more serious songs on the album, the tracks on the second side dealt with the fact that J. Cole wants to change the world, his personal feelings and stories involving family relationships, relationships with girls and s lot more. Cole World: The Sideline Story brought exactly what its name delivered concept wise, Cole World sounded a lot like the world we live in, people have fun, people have feelings, and there are issues in the world, and families and couples have problems, that was exactly what this album was about, but the difference between this album and other stuff that talk about those topics is that it was more on Cole’s point of view than anything else, which was something I honestly loved.

    To start off looking at the music of the album, I decided to go with the funner side, mainly because it’s shorter and a lot less deep than the rest of the album, but what’s depth when the song is great? I mean look at what the album has, the energetic, lyrical “Can’t Get Enough” was an excellent track that will surly get radio play, the club based “Work Out” had a great club-themed tune with a great flow to go with it, “Mr. Nice Watch” was one of my favorites, it was a like lyrical game, J. Cole and Jay-Z both rapped fire on top a dubstep inspired beat, it’s punchlines shined, it’s production shined, it was just an all-around strongly structured song, “Lights Please” was about forgetting about all the problems in the world and just doing it, it was a great song, but I have to admit Cole’s flow on the song felt a bit lazy, and “In The Morning” which featured Drake, it was a good track, except it had a really lazy and boring flow, which is something that works sometimes, but doesn’t work at all most of the time.

    As for the serious topics, Cole talked about a lot of stuff. He started the serious tracks on the album talking about his rise to fame and how he got to the position that he is on now. There were a lot of those great tracks, “Cole World” was among my favorites, J. Cole had some really strong lyrics, the beat was really fast, and honestly it just in a way stands for everything Cole did, and what he wants to do, “Dollar and a Dream III” was  a great track, it was about rising to the point of making money out of his dream, it was deep, the production was great, but Cole’s flow was just a bit lazy though, “Rise and Shine” which was about Cole’s rise and fall, it was truly one of the best tracks on the album thanks to its more than outstanding production and aggressive flow, and “Who Dat” which was about spreading his name and reaching where he is now, it was a great track, but for some reason it felt a bit overplayed due to it coming out over a year ago.

     Cole also talked about some serious problems involving couples too. “Lost One” was basically a story about a couple debating whether they should abort a baby or not, Cole brought both, the guy’s point of view, and the girl’s point of view, and the result? An emotional, innovative and a really great story, “Nobody’s Perfect” was about how couples make mistakes, and that a relationship isn’t perfect, it starts off as a really lazy track, but it does get better as progresses, “Never Told” was about how a man tries taking to a girl when a problem is going on, and how she keeps denying it, it was a slow, but excellent track, and “Nothing Lasts Forever” was about a couple trying to fix things after going through a rough part in their relationship, and that they kept trying to fix their relationship issues but they seem to be unable to do that, the track was really a great track, it’s production was excellent, and lyrically it was really soulful.

   Cole also talked about family issues as well. “Breakdown” was a really soulful and emotional track, it was one of the best of the album and it was full of emotional stories, mostly highlighting stories on Cole meeting his biological father, and him having issues with his mother, and “Daddy’s Little Girl” was something that was a bit different, instead of a couple’s relationship or family stories, he talked about a father-daughter relationship, the song was basically a story Cole made up about a fictional daughter that he’s watching growing up, and how she thinks she’s ready for the world and stuff like that, while her father, J. Cole thinks she’s trying to grow up too fast, it was easily one of the best tracks on the album, it was emotional, soulful, and something that a lot of people would relate to.

    Here’s something really unique, Cole actually talked about the production and making of this album in some tracks, “Sideline Story” was a ‘behind the scenes’ track, it talked about Cole’s struggles behind his rise and what he had to sacrifice to make this album, it was a great track, and it was another one of my favorites on this album, and “God’s Gift” was one of those highlight tracks about how his rapping skill was a gift from god, therefore leading to making this entire album and hopefully making it successful.

     19 tracks, a huge group of concepts, a huge menu of different styles, a lot of track with really strong production and great lyrics, what more can I say about Cole World: The Sideline Story? It was an outstanding album from begging to end, I mean, true, some tracks did suffer from a boring flow, but the good really pushes the bad away in this album. When Cole’s having fun he’s clever, when he’s being serious he brings the listener deep into what he’s talking about, it’s tough for an artist to do that, and Cole just did that with The Sideline Story.

   What more could J. Cole do with Cole World: The Sideline Story? Did this debut show Cole’s skills? Clearly, it actually showed more than what he could do. Was this album better than his mixtapes? What are his mixtapes when comparing them to this album? How did it rank among other new generation debuts? It was probably the best one out of all of them, Lupe Fiasco gave hip-hop new, fresh blood with his debut “Food & Liquor”, and Cole did the same, and actually he did more. Cole World: The Sideline story was probably the best debut album I can remember to be honest, it beat out “Doggystyle” it beat out “The Slim Shady LP”, it beat out “The College Dropout” and it beat out “Food & Liquor” it was just that great of an album, what more can I say?

Single Review: The Throne - Otis (Ft. Otis Redding)

     

  Single Rating: 10/10

    Kanye West and Jay-Z decided to make another ‘first single’ for their Watch The Throne album since there first attempt ‘H.A.M’ was kinda a failure critically. But I kinda liked H.A.M though, it may not nearly be up to Kanye or Jay-Z’s potential, but it’s still a great track. But that was the past, now let’s move on to the future and we can finally see, or hear how will the new first single, Otis will do.

     

    Otis was a song that was really about nothing. It was just Kanye and Jay-Z rapping verse after verse, combined with a fairly large group of punchiness. But at the same time there is no real story or real ideas behind the lyrics on the song, but at the same time the theme and concept where both really clear on this track. The song was just a little walk through Kanye and Jay-Z’s carriers and their positions as two of the very best artists in the rap world. It wasn’t a really smart, or even a unique concept, but the song’s presentation and style where the real jems of the track.

     

    Lyrically the song was really strong, there was no hook, it was just Kanye and Jay-Z both throwing line after line, than a usual punch line. For me, if a song has no story or real ideas behind it, that’s what artists should be able to do, put in really clever lyrics, some really strong punch line just going on and on and on, and for me what makes this great as a collaboration is that Kanye and Jay-Z used that perfectly, while constantly trading verses in a very balanced and strongly flowed style, that having no real ideas wouldn’t even matter here.

      

    The production on Otis was literally top notch. The beat was really good, it sounded like something that really rich people would have on their I-pods or something. It’s style sounded crazy expensive, and the Otis Redding sample just puts the price of that beat up, making it sound a lot classier in my opinion. As for the general production on the track, the quality also sounds really good and expensive, the mixing was really impressive, and honestly the production just sounds like it’s budget, which was probably a lot of money.

    

    Otis was overall an excellent track. Sure, it had no real concept, but it’s greatness makes up for that, and does a lot more for the track. Think about it, Kanye and Jigga where both exactly on Q with the beat, the production on the track deserves as much props as possible, and honestly this song just sounds like it has a really high chance of being remembered as a classic hip-hop track. It’s not going to be the best song of the year for sure, but it’s certainly gonna be up there as one of the best.

Album Review: The Throne- Watch The Throne

Average Rating: 8.5/10

      Overall Rating: 9.4/10

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      1. No Church in the Wild Ft. Frank Ocean (10/10)

          2. Lift Off Ft. Beyoncé (7.5/10)

          3. Niggas in Paris (10/10)

          4. Otis Ft. Otis Redding (10/10)

          5. Gotta Have It (8/10)

          6. New Day (10/10)

          7. That’s My Bitch (10/10)

          8. Who’s Gon Stop Me (10/10)

          9. Murder To Excellence (10/10)

         10. Welcome To the Jungle (7/10)

         11.  Made In America Ft. Frank Ocean (10/10)

         12.  Why I Love You Ft. Mr. Hudson (9.5/10)

          13.  Illest Motherfucker Alive (7.5/10)

          14.  H.A.M (8/10)

          15. Primetime (5.5/10)

          16. The Joy Ft. Curtis Mayfeild (3/10)

    Jay-Z and Kanye West had a long history together, Jay-Z was Kanye’s mentor, and Kanye was Jay-Z’s prodige. They met in 2001. Kanye produced some tracks for Jay-Z’s classic “The Blueprint” album, and in 2004, Jay-Z was the executive producer for Kanye’s first album “The College Dropout”. Ever since they had an Eminem and Dr. Dre type mentor and prodige relationship, and much like Eminem and Dr. Dre, they never made a whole album together, until now, Jay-Z and Kanye West formed a due called The Throne, thus, the collaboration album, “Watch The Throne” was born.

   

    Watch The Throne has experienced many delays, and honestly at some point, It started feeling like Dr. Dre’s Detox. I thought that the album would never come out, but look at it, it’s on out now, it was highly anticipated, and it looked like it will be a strong contender for being one of the best albums of the year, and possibly one of the best albums of modern day hip-hop. So let’s see how it will do as far as what everyone is expecting form it. Is it going to be the earthquake what we were waiting for since it was announced? Or will it end up being a disappointment, like most highly anticipated albums these days? Well, it already reached 1 million pre orders on I-Tunes, and probably will top the charts, so let’s see if it’s worth all this hype and anticipation.

     Watch The Throne as a whole reminds me a bit of Kanye West’s debut The College Dropout production wise. Not in the sense that the album sounds like The College Dropout, more in the sense that like the College Dropout, Watch The Throne’s production sounded really well taken care of and top notch, and as for the album’s job lyrically as a whole, it seemed like something new for Yeezy and Jigga, why? Because unlike any of Kanye West’s or Jay-Z’s previous albums, they try many different flows and styles, but what’s a different flow if the album isn’t good?

      As I just mentioned earlier, there where so many different moods and flows in this album. There where emotionally driven or lyrically honest tracks. Some tracks where mostly Jay-Z and Kanye trading verses, and some tracks that were just simply punch line after punch line. So given all this diversity, the album should sound fresh, should have constant new sounds, and somewhat different sounds compared to Kanye or Jay-Z’s previous solo projects.

   

     The album featured so many different styles, but the style that shines out the most was the emotional/ lyrically honest style. The album’s best tracks in the album had this particular style, mostly four songs shined out with that style. Starting with “No Church in the Wild”, which was mostly about religious and social corruption, and what better way to say it then with a great beat, an excellent played out yet angry flow, and a really strong hook by Odd Future’s Frank Ocean. Another one of the best honest and emotional tracks was “Made in America” which also had Frank Ocean on the hook, but unlike “No Church in the Wild” it had a very mellow flow, and the concept  was very different, this song was about the stress and struggles used to get to Kanye’s and Jay-Z’s point of success, and it was a much better song than “No Church in The Wild”,  even though “No Church in the Wild” was an amazing song.

    

     Another honest and emotional track which did not feature Frank Ocean was “Why I Love You”, which was an alternative rock inspired track about trust, and Jay-Z and Kanye’s feelings on breaking that chain of trust, and honestly thanks to its great flow, and really strong flow, the song takes its place as one of the best here on Watch The Throne.“Murder To Excellence” was another honest and emotional track, it mainly talked about gang wars, black people fighting each other, and how that should stop, especially because they are murdering their own race. But one song that really caught my ear was “New Day” which was another really great track, it was Kanye and Jay-Z both imagining that they had kids, and as a result the song was the most honest, and it felt like it was the most emotionally driven track on the whole album, making it feel somewhat special compared to the rest of the album.

      Kanye West and Jay-Z also shined in the songs where they trade verses. Particularly in “Otis” where Kanye and Jay-Z both just keep trading verses nonstop without even stopping for a hook, and as a result, the song really deserves something huge. Another track where Kanye and Jay-Z kept trading verses was “Welcome to the Jungle”, only it wasn’t very consistent, and really wasn’t nearly as good as Otis, and a third track where they trade verses was “Murder To Excellence”, it’s production really shined out clearly, and Jay-Z’s and Kanye’s speed at trading there verses was really strong and flowed really well with the beat, thus, showing there really strong chemistry on the mic.

      As I mentioned, there were some tracks here where Kanye and Jay-Z just rap punch line after punch line. One of the most notable tracks was “That’s My Bitch”, which felt like 90s hip-hop due to the production, but due to the many punch lines and many metaphors used here, the song felt closer to the smarter, better and more clever side of modern day hip-hop, which really made it shine out as a five star track. “Niggas in Paris” was another great punch line track, it’s production really shined, and it’s punch lines and lyrics sliced a lot of the songs out there like how ninjas slice people in half in cartoons, , and “Who Gon Stop Me” was another great punch line track, the song had a really strong dubstep inspired beat, and some very strong and memorable punch lines, but the cool thing about the song, and most of the other punch line songs here was that  the whole song was just punch line after punch line, then a hook, then back to the punch lines, like most of the punch line tracks here, and really that style worked out very well for both of them, and possibly may be mastered by Kanye and Jay-Z.

     There was one particular track in the album that caught my ear. Not because of Its quality, but more because of its more diverse and experimental feeling. The song was “Lift Off” which featured Beyoncé. It mainly cough my ear because Kanye sang most of the song without using Autotune, and he sounded great, but I think the song could have been better, why? Because when having the hook sung really beautify by Beyoncé, and Kanye having a great voice singing in this song, Jay-Z’s verse was way too short, and Kanye kinda annoyed me at his second verse where he only kept repeating “now you know me, now you know me”, I mean, the song was good, but the biggest letdown on the album, because it really had the potential to be the best track out there.

     Watch The Throne honestly had a ridiculously high chance of being a masterpiece. Most of the songs were amazing. When the album was in its best mood, and when it was on, it was really on. It really pushed how good music can be to its limit, but what weakened the album were the weaker tracks, which were good most of the time, but compared to the level of the best tracks on the album, they could have been a lot better. But other than those weaker tracks, the album was mostly an incredible collaboration, it was diverse, it used many styles that can only be used as an advantage for collaborations, it took advantage of many of its opportunities, and it overall hit almost all of its buttons,. Overall, it’s not the best album of the year, it’s not the best collaboration of the year, but it is a close second to the best collaboration, still though, I think due to hearing most of the album, I think it could have easily been the best album of not just the year, but of this new generation, but it kinda blew it’s chance due to the weaker tracks.