J. Cole, Cole World: The Sideline Story
After two years of anticipation, J. Cole releases his debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story. Can the Roc Nation signee’s offering live up to expectations?
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“Cole World, World Tour with no album,” J. Cole tweeted earlier this month.
Such mobility should be a blessing. Not always, though.
Yes, in all of the obvious ways, what J. Cole has been achieving in the more than two years since he signed with Roc Nation and dropped his acclaimed mixtape, The Warm Up, certainly is amazing: rocking stages domestically and abroad; gaining legions of fans and feeding them free, purchase-quality music; shining as a featured guest next to the likes of Jay-Z, Kanye West, Talib Kweli and more; and simply having the ability to make a living doing what you love.
But it’s these same factors that have positioned J. Cole’s major label debut, Cole World: The Sideline Story, in an uphill battle against expectations.
Thanks to a number of factors (most glaringly, the Internet, and all it has spawned) the current moment of hip-hop music consumption is unparalleled—a fact particularly relevant to artists’ debut albums. Sure, everyone from N.W.A. to Nas to Kanye West created anticipation for their soon-to-be-classic debuts, but the blanket of expectations now flaps more expansively for those anointed as “next” by excited fans and critics, on the heels of album-esque mixtapes, the national tours that they trigger, and rampant release date delays.
The last two tapes that the Fayetteville, North Carolina native has dropped (The Warm Up and Friday Night Lights) have been deemed great by some and even classic by others. And this, in many ways—the heightened, if ridiculous, expectations—prove the leading detriment to a very strong debut album from J. Cole. Cole World: The Sideline Story is possibly better than either of the two lauded mixtapes for which he’s become known. Yet, it was looked upon to be much more—that Cole would take a leap, not a step—and it’s not quite that.
Preconceptions aside, the album is able to put a check mark in each of the boxes next to the laundry list of abilities that have thrust Cole into a discussion as a possible torch-bearer for a generation.
There’s the piano-backed “Intro,” presenting the same kind of solemn yet inspiring opening with which he’s begun his last two projects. “Dollar and a Dream III” is vintage Cole, spitting for nearly five minutes about highs and lows, dreams and reality. He does so over a looming, slow-building beat that has a few distinct sections, each sounding developed but derived from the previous one. Here, on the first full track, we get a taste of Cole’s growth as a producer that continues to reveal itself over the 16-track project’s entirety.
The lyrical workouts continue on cuts like “God’s Gift” and “Rise and Shine,” where, on the latter, he spits, “The ones y’all thought would save the day can’t even tie my boots/The ones y’all thought could hang with me can’t even tie my noose.”
But it’s not all boasts from the 26-year-old. With songs like “Breakdown,” a deeply personal recounting of his staggered relationship with his father and his mother’s battle with drugs; “Lost Ones,” an impassioned and touching tale from multiple perspectives of the considerations when contemplating an abortion; or “Nobody’s Perfect,” featuring an outstanding hook from Missy Elliott, we find Cole able to straddle the line between crafting a contagious head-nodder and a meaningful examination of human relationships, asserting his ability to speak to and for so many.
“Mr. Nice Watch” is an erratic, dub-step influenced built-up collaboration with Jay-Z, where Hov get’s the better of his protégé (something he was unable or uninterested in doing on their Blueprint 3 joint “Star Is Born”). Current single “Can’t Get Enough,” featuring Trey Songz is more accessible than Cole’s shown to be in the past and is able to remain stellar. His other single, the bonus track “Work Out,” lacks this.
Though previously released “Lights Please” (TWU) and the Drake-assisted “In The Morning” (FNL) remain excellent (“Lights Please” proves particularly timeless), their (possibly label-obliged) inclusion on the album seems a bit curious, specifically to earlier Cole fans.
Cole’s DIY methods—producing the bulk of the album, enlisting limited guests—are admirable if, at times, restrictive. His beat-making has evolved, and the instrumentation displays that growth, but his sound will be allowed to further progress if he teams with others in the future. Same for his hooks, which are often disproportionately small when compared to the vigor of his verses.
Was the height of the bar set for J. Cole unjust?
No. On the contrary, it’s complimentary and deserved. It wouldn’t be placed there if it weren’t something he was capable of reaching. On Cole World: The Sideline Story he taps it a few times, and shows he’s on his way to fully grasping it. —Adam Fleischer
R.E.D. Album was a classic and got L. This is pretty average album and gets XL … Get off Cole’s dick already.
True that.. RED should have deserved an XL at least.. But this album is dope too
The R.E.D album is a good album but J Cole has a great album with not many features unlike the game album and for him to produce about 90 % of the album is amazing its a classic album no song is rally skippable
true that, the features truly were what made R.E.D such a good album
listen dude, GAME tried to jack 3 rappers style on his album (Tyler the creator, big boy, and jeezy) let alone he went with that dumb ass drake song, now the album was good but did NOT deserve XL, considering he didn’t produce 15 of his 18 songs like COLE, and game took 4 years to produce his album and it wasn’t that great. LAX murders RED album. So get off GAMES dick cuz he didn’t deliver like cole
lol u either hate game or love deepthroating j cole lol
but i liked both albums
Game always keeps it real while J. Cole is the best rapper out
when it comes to the new ones hes holdin shit down
game j cole n boosie would be sick on a track together
how about u get off game’s RED dick and actually listen to some lyrically good music for once.
What about the new Spank Rock album XXL?
y’all gave The carter 4 and Sorry for the wait XL. i can no longer take you guys serious
lmfao i have to agree completely, i saw this got the same rating as Carter 4, and i was like WTF!?!?!?!?! xxl looses all credibility, with that one. i also do not take them seriously anymore. like carter 4? XL? seriously?
Tha Carter 4 is great
Carter 4 great? lol the only reason it got in xl in my opinion is cause of tech n9ne’s verse lol I use to be a wayne fan but when u hear him too much on everybody songs and almost 4000 mixtapes (not hating his work ethic) you get tired of his voice and his lyrics become repetitive and predictable.
Cole world dope though
C4 was a pop rap album, it deserved an xl 4 what it was. This deserves an xl too, this is an exampleof a great debut from a semi lyrical rapper, and was pretty damn good. U gotta think about it 4 what its supposdd 2 b
Cant wait to hear it.
damn when da last time u seen a xxl album?
Kanye’s “Dark Fantasy” I believe. Could be wrong.
yeah you’re right
XL, 4/5, 8/10. It’s certainly not a perfect classic, but it’s real good. I love release days though. All the reactionary fans come out proclaiming classic it makes for some good lol’s.
There is nothing profound about…..”The ones y’all thought would save the day can’t even tie my boots/The ones y’all thought could hang with me can’t even tie my noose.” If that’s the line that you highlight, your opinion is garbo.
Just because Cole produced his entire album doesn’t automatically make it a near classic or automatically better than an album that wasn’t entirely self-produced. Quit being somebody’s street team and actually listen to these albums.
you’ve got to be joking XXL. you give sorry 4 the wait and tha carter 4 xl’s and you give this album the same thing? This album deserved XL, being that it was good but not classic, but tha carter 4 and sorry 4 the wait were average at best. you need to get off waynes dick and actuallyreview albums properly. And RED album was L at best. The Documentry was great, this one not so much
The album is heavy but it is missing something.Maybe if Cole never released Fnl and put the stronger tracks like Enchanted,Farewell,Too deep for the intro and See world then it would have been a classic in my eyes.I’m rooting for him tho fans moan about wanting lyricism well here it is.
^^^I agree with this.
I think that some of those deep and dope ass songs from FNL should have been saved for this. Too deep for the intro would have been perfect right after the intro of Sideline right b4 dollar and a dream 3. Enchanted is so dope too. I think if some of those deep tracks would have been on this it woulda been classic. It probably would have made the album “too deep” for people though.
Overall, Sideline is dope. XL is fine. XXL would make it a classic. It had good balance btwn the deep tracks (back half of the album) and the popular shit (first half). I think the success of TWU and FNL made us expect a whole lot more on this joint so we are quick to rate this joint lower then it deserves.
I will say this though: Nobody’s Perfect should have a third verse. C’mon Cole lol.
-@FullCupLover