First off I have no music credentials, I don't write for a magazine or know rappers/producers/writers etc. I just like writing and wanted to put my thoughts down. Whether I write good or bad, J. Cole will make the same amount of money from this album. I'm irrelevant in the grand scheme but here's what a non-critic thinks of KOD.
I'm listening to the album as I type this so you could be in for a jumpy, disorientating piece with little clarity. That's how I feel about this album. People are talking about it being more trap, people are saying it's got a punchy feel similar to DAMN. Of course the two will get compared. Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole are the 2 biggest and best in their bracket, artists which aren't at the Kanye West and Jay-Z icon status but can not be touched by new wave stuff like Migos, Drake and Lil Yachty. In an era where fickle beats, singles and sellouts rule rap, Cole and Kendrick have largely remained true to their own music, they're album artists, wordsmiths when we compare them to the 'other rappers out there'.
But I'm asking is this album off-track? Why is Cole talking about xany in Kevin's Heart? Why does Cole have a song on his album which could be seen as a reference to a cheesy comedian who does films with Will Ferrell? I want to be clear - I AM NOT CALLING J COLE A SELL OUT - in fact I've always preferred his music and the way he flows over Kendrick's. If ever there's high praise there it is. I just don't really get this album right now and I'm not scared to admit that. I don't get it. Maybe I've just missed the point and that may change with more plays and more focus on the lyrics but on first impression this is Trappy and removed from the J. Cole who didn't want to let Nas down.
Born Sinner was the first album Cole did where I thought "Wow," and it was instant, I felt it straightaway - the escape, the hunger, the struggle, it was all there. The headphones went in, the music played and everything else in the world was irrelevant. That music affected me, it wasn't as artistic as a Kanye West piece or as Billboard centered as something by Drake but when I listened to it I was only doing that. Listening. Escaping. No other thoughts. I always judge music by whether or not I can get that escapism from it and with KOD I haven't.
Drake drops catchy singles with little world play, Migos mumble rap in patterns over a beat, Chris brown did a song with Kendall Jenner in. These are just commercially-driven projects designed for short-term Billboard success and the desire to be relevant year round. In a world where sellouts rule Hip-Hop & Rap the talent of J. Cole, and with him Kendrick Lamar, could always be relied on to show the true art.
Maybe it's a sign of the way rap is going and I'm just not ready for that.
KOD has the same punchiness as DAMN did in its songs and in similar fashion more focus is placed on the beats than the vocals. The beat now rules rap and that's why your Migos, your Yachty, your Lil Pump can get away with being so talentless. That's a relative statement, they're more talented than me but compared to 'real rappers' they're nothing.
Kudos for Cole calling out the glamorising of black rappers not giving a fuck and popping pills on 1985 - everyone's branding this a diss but I don't think he's calling him out it's just honest, it's tough love, Cole says it himself he wants to see black men get paid. It's advice and it's constructive, Cole acknowledges the change in rap and his distaste for what some rappers and rapping about.
With the punchiness of this album has J. Cole realised he has to adapt to the new world of rap. I think he has. That being said I don't think we'll ever see a J. Cole who isn't anything less than honest, who talks about struggle but doesn't glamorises it, who doesn't hide he isn't a gangster, who doesn't claim to be something he's not. To me this is an adaptive album for J. Cole which he's been forced into somewhat by the current state of rap. I still like him. I don't think he's sold out. It's just different and I don't like it as much as what he's done before. I want to get it, I want to find things in this album I haven't yet, I want to understand the beats, the trap influence and the collaborations. I will listen to this album again (probably quite a lot) because I trust Cole and believe he wouldn't just make an album for commercial success.
Everything Jermaine has done before has been done with a point and I hope this album gets me to where it's just me and my headphones.
Here's to listening again.
About the Creator
Lem Binge
All the irrelevant opinions you don't want or need in one inconvenient place
Frankie's Song of the Week: Espresso - Sabrina Carpenter
A little something different from me while I deal with the strain of writers block. I thought I'd do a song of the week, because I have been surely annoying my neighbours and my friends with this absolute musical GEM. I am of course talking about Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter.
By Frankie Martinelli7 days ago in Beat
Uncle Vanya.
For the modern theater lover "Uncle Vanya" at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater may very well be for you. This "Vanya" is not the typical play by Chekhov; in its new rendition by Heidi Schreck, we get more modern language, modern costumes (Kaye Voyce) and modern direction by Lila Neugebauer. Vanya (Steve Carell) has spent most of his life farming the land so that Alexander (Alfred Molina) can carry on with his art studies as a celebrated professor and teacher. Both Molina and Carell as well as Alison Pill as Sonya are standouts in this production, laying waste to all the other actors in the cast. Where the sound resonates in this well appointed theater (Mikhail Fiksel and Beth Lake), the sets by Mimi Lien are unimpressive. Lap Chi Chu gives us the support on lighting and her moods vary well amongst this two hours and fifteen minutes. "Uncle Vanya" is slow at times, very slow due to Neugebauer's direction. Actors don't always blend well causing pockets of weakness in the dialogue. Both William Jackson Harper as Astrov and Anika Noni Rose as Elena cannot hold the stage nor the attention of the audience. Since the show is put in modern language, these two actors appear more like people in the inner city rather than stage professionals; even their body language goes anathema to this great classic. In a slow-go of this play, the show does pick up almost half way through the first act. The dialogue and the melding of characters never fully catches its stride however. We get a mesh-mosh of thoughts, feelings and adversity, but the true feelings are never brought to the forefront emotionally. At the end of the play we get to hear Vanya rant about his feelings, how he gave up his life for the farm which is weakly portrayed at the back of the theater. The audience never feels his pain as Carell holds back and we never feel the strong emotions. More comedic than serious, he is at his best when the show has him bantering about. In Voyce's costumes we get both the elegant and the mundane. Never overwhelmed by the garb, it fades away like much of this play does. For the modern theater lover, however, there are a lot of things in this show that you will like. The sets which never really blend with the show are intricate and give meaning to the modern. The deft sound keeps the play eery at times especially with the reverbs at different times during the performance. The backdrop in the second act is clever even though it is difficult to sift through the conventional writings of Chekhov... it goes against the grain of what we have seen in the past. "Uncle Vayna" is a mixed bag and is not for everyone, it takes the conventional completely out of the picture and puts us in the new world of modern.
By Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).about 21 hours ago in Beat
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