Tuesday, June 25, 2013

J.Cole Born a sinner or born loser


 
 
 
 
Off Top Records
 
 
Second studio album “Born Sinner” of J. Cole, the first rapper signed under Jay-Z’s Roc-Nation label, will be released on June 18. It is a pretty important deal for hip-hop community as J. Cole is one of the rappers considered to be the true flagman of hip-hop – the artist to whom the baton should be passed from the old masters and who should raise the bar of art in new, unprecedented heights. Such status in the case of J. Cole is both a gift and a curse, especially because his mixtapes have proven he has the right to claim to be the best. J. Cole might be one of the artists getting into the ears of listeners of both underground and mainstream music like his boss Jay-Z has done. If he goes another way at the end of the day, I will assume J. Cole did not maximize his potential.

 

J. Cole’s debut album “Cole World: The Sideline Story” was released in September 2011. It was No 1 on Billboard top 100 and more than 200,000 copies were sold during the first week. It showed that J. Cole is able to create music that people will buy. I guess that was the main thing J. Cole had to prove as he wasn’t one of the artists made for radio by request. Therefore J. Cole has to find the golden mean that would allow him to make radio friendly music while at the same time keeping the main elements that define him as an artist. Debut album “Cole World” proved that J. Cole has a loyal fan base, that people are buying his music, but at the same time it wasn’t as big of a bang as, for example, Kendrick’s debut. The album was good, not brilliant, and singles were good, not monumental. In my opinion, this album did enough to put J. Cole in a safe spot where he would not risk losing his contract with Roc-Nation, where he would be allowed to release his next album and where he would be considered to be a successful artist, but not a heavyweight of music industry. He did not exceed the budget, it all paid off and everything was fine, but it wasn’t what everything were expecting from J. Cole.

 

Almost 2 years have passed since release of “Cole World” and where is J. Cole now? To all appearances J. Cole is almost in the same situation as he was before release of his debut – it is still not clear whether he will be able to sell enough copies of his album (especially taking into account the fact that his album will be released on the same day as Kanye West’s “Yeezus”), whether J. Cole will be able to show that he is one of the most important artists in this industry with this album and whether this album is going to be classic as everyone is waiting for it to be. One can already more or less answer the last question, as you can legally listen to “Born Sinner” on webpage bornsinner.com and it is clear that this album is not a classic.

 

After listening to the album it becomes clear that J. Cole is still struggling with the same problems, issues and demons that were overwhelming him before the release of his first album. J. Cole’s status in the industry is still not stable, he still has not got as much money as Jay-Z, Beyonce or old, white billionaires, and women are still gold-diggers that want to fuck as much money out of J. Cole and other successful people as possible. When listening to the album, it seems that nothing has changed in J. Cole’s life during those 2 years. It seems that he still has to prove himself and worry about whether or not he will be able to reach the same status as, for example, Kanye West. The topic on getting your spot in the industry has gotten much deeper as has his thoughts on the pressure to release a radio friendly single that are expressed in his song “Let Nas Down” in which J. Cole describes Nas’s reaction when the rap legend heard “Work Out” for the first time. Actually the song is not just a contribution to Nas, but also to all the fans that were disappointed when they heard the sugary, radio friendly single. From time to time, when mentioning his more experienced colleagues like Kanye West or Jay-Z, it seems like J. Cole wants to let us know that he is not going to remain in their shadows forever – he wants to find the strength to break in a higher category, but like detached observers even J. Cole himself has understood in his second album that he has not earned so much medals.

 

If we compare J. Cole’s music with his first album, it has become more interesting and diverse, but the beats are still minimalistic. I would define them as passive aggressive. Music is more interesting than the one in J. Cole’s debut, but it is still basically the same – there are no differences like the ones seen in Kanye West’s albums “Collage Dropout” and “Late Registration”. There is the same aftertaste after listening this album – well, maybe it tastes better. It is a matter of taste, but if you ask me, I would like to hear more pronounced beats – if you use bass, then use it so one can feel it, if there is a melody, it should be showy. Choruses in this album are hummed, not sung, the drums are not synthetic, but they do not have the boom-bap swing.  That’s the signature of J. Cole’s production. I cannot put my finger on it, but there is something wrong with those beats, for example, in “Mo Money” – there is everything, but at the same time there is a feeling that it is an unfinished demo material.

 

I understood that “Born Sinner” won’t be a classic after I heard J. Cole’s “Forbidden Fruit” with Kendrick Lamar on chorus. The song is very simple, the beat is not complicated, the sample is classic and the song shows nothing new. When I heard “Forbidden Fruit” for the first time, I felt like it was a song from a mixtape, not from J. Cole’s second album in which he has to prove that he is still able to create classic material and surprise the listener. Should J. Cole put such material in his album, it’s clear, that the album would not be a surprise. I am very interested in what made him make such a decision, what is his aim to be reached with this album as it is clear that such songs as “Forbidden Fruit” won’t stay in listener’s mind for long (maybe it would if Kendrick would spit a verse in it). I think that after a while we will hear J. Cole saying “Born Sinner” was not a classic but another album that he could have work on for a bit longer, just like “Cole World”.

 

J. Cole still has not maximized his potential in his second album and it seems that it is similar to the first album at least by the number of copies sold and its effect on the culture. J. Cole is still a skilled lyricist with a sophisticated, witty and enjoyable flow, but it seems that he still has not maximized his potential. During these 2 years J. Cole has not gone further musically and has not reached a status higher than he had before and this release will put him just a tiny bit ahead. It is not bad, as J. Cole has interesting relations with the music industry with its own requirements that are not always met by J. Cole, but at the end of the day he finds a halfway, gets back his invested money and does everything to get further. In my opinion, J. Cole is here for long. The main thing that upsets me is that J. Cole most probably will reach his potential with his third or fourth album only which means that we have to wait for at least two more years. Maybe it is not ordinary in modern industry, but in good old times it was not a surprise when solo artists or groups gained real success only with their third, fourth or even fifth album (for example, Bruce Springsteen or Red Hot Chilli Peppers). I think that in J. Cole’s case waiting will be worth it.

 

 

 

 

Written by Edavardi

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