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"Am I worthy of this gift/ Am I strong enough to lift, into a place that I can see/ Someone more important than me?" he croons on the hook. The song deals with the new responsibilities of fatherhood and the meaning it's given his life. 2" is one of two tracks dedicated to the two most important people in Cole's life: his wife and his daughter. You can be great in this place and make this place great." "She's Mine, Pt. "I didn't necessarily have to leave Fayetteville to do what I did. "I realized the opportunity is in your mentality," he says in his 2014 Forest Hills Drive: Homecoming documentary, according to the Fayetteville Observer. The song's title is a nod to his hometown of Fayetteville, with the mentality in question being the feeling that he had to get out at all costs to achieve his dreams, despite all the disruption it would cause himself and those around him. Cole includes interludes from a girl who lost her father to gun violence, talking about the scars it left in her family.
Track four, "Ville Mentality," unfolds more of the album's major themes over a shuffling soul beat. "It's that sort of thinkin' that been keepin' niggas chained/ At the bottom and hanged/ The strangest fruit that you ever seen, ripe with pain." "Ville Mentality" "They tellin' niggas sell dope, rap or go to NBA, in that order," Cole spits. But the joy of the rags-to-riches storyline is tainted by the rarity of his rise. He then winds out stories about hustling on the corner, building towards his present station. "Screamin,' dollar and a dream with my closet lookin' broke."
JCOLE 4 YOUR EYEZ ONLY TOP TRACKS FULL
"I was barely 17 with a pocket full of hope," he raps. "Immortal"Ĭole opens "Immortal," a hard-hitting stream of meditation on his position in rap and the black man's position in America, with a reminder of who he is and where he's been. "Tired of feeling low even when I'm high/ Ain't no way to live, do I wanna die?" Cole asks himself over soft African chimes, before answering the brutally honest question: "I don't know." It immediately sets a very different tone from the optimistic intro of 2014 Forest Hills Drive. The opener of 4 Your Eyez Only, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" channels a similar plea for freedom, this time from his own doubts and depression.
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He dropped "Be Free" with its plaintive sung chorus: "All we wanna do is take the chains off." In the midst of the 2014 Ferguson protests, Cole revealed another dimension of his vocal abilities: his blues voice. Here are a few breakdowns of the album's standout tracks. He takes aim at systematic and cultural racism, his coming to terms with the responsibilities of fatherhood, survivor's guilt and grief, among many of life's darker corners. The album offers a raw glimpse at the contents of Cole's mind, and for the most part he's thinking about much deeper issues than the careers of rap's heavy hitters. I’m hoping he recaptures this magic one day.After even a single listen to 4 Your Eyez Only, that omission begins to make sense. While Cole’s later LPs haven’t come close to capturing the magic of this mixtape, Friday Night Lights is proof that Jermaine has a 5-star release in him. It was a can’t miss-release that is in the conversation for greatest mixtape of all time. Friday Night Lights showcased Cole at his lyrical and creative peak, touching on personal issues with the wit and flair of a veteran artist. Cole – the release that had rap critics uttering his name in the same breath as Nasir Jones. But there’s only one project that has fully encapsulated all things J. I’ve witnessed his emergence from the underground, his initial mainstream stumbles and smiled as he finally found his footing to reach his current level of stardom. It has become his signature release.įorgotten favorites: “January 28th,” “Love Yourz,” “03 Adolescence”Įdd said: Yes, I’ve had my criticisms of Cole’s inconsistency over the past decade or so, but let me be clear – I’m a Day One J. Cole’s stans will die on every (forest) hill imaginable for this album, and it’s hard to blame them. Don’t get me wrong, the high points are very high – after a shaky start, 2014 Forest Hills Drive finds Cole returning to the soulful, introspective content that made his early mixtapes such standouts. And, like C3, while it might be his most praised album, it’s far from his best. For many younger fans, this was their gateway drug to all things Cole World, just like C3 was for Wayne. Like C3, Forest Hills might not be Cole’s debut, but it is his breakout and most celebrated release – a triple-platinum success that allowed him to finally achieve the mainstream success he’d been chasing for half a decade. Edd said: To me, 2014 Forest Hills Drive is J.