![]() Before we dissolve into Hip-Hop monotony, 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' presents us with a collection of quaint, organic instrumentation that feels freeform and moves naturally. Awkward dancing included.Ĭonsidering the trudge that fulfills almost the entirety of the middle, Eyez surprisingly starts and ends on relatively strong footing. Honestly, and this is a first for a Hip-Hop song, I can visibly see 'Foldin' Clothes' playing in the background of someone legitimately folding clothes. The bedtime rapping trope of Cole finally has circumstantial evidence with these two cuts, and others, like 'Foldin' Clothes,' which doesn't bore with monotone rapping, but rather through gushy, middle-class love ballads. For both 'She's Mine's,' Cole ruins potentially compelling stories with some unneeded drowsiness, going for the soft, sentimental type, resulting though, in someone who seems entirely uninterested. And when your self-prescribed closest competitor, Kendrick Lamar, made a leap, stylistically, from GKMC to TPAB, you've got to question just where exactly your headspace has been these past few years. ![]() We've heard tracks like these, or the 'She's Mine' suite, before. ![]() Deep cuts like 'Deja Vu' and 'Ville Mentality' provide no substance or necessity, acting as prototypical Cole cuts. Now, he's content stagnating, whilst dissing artists like Kanye West and Lil Yachty, who are in a far more creative state than him, actually intent on moving the genre forward. That's truly a shame because, with 2014FHD, Cole seemed to have been making progress in almost all these aspects. In almost every sense, including the political climate clouding the album's direction, Eyez is about as generic a Hip-Hop album one can muster in 2016, a year thriving with creativity. The production is uneventful, simply cruising off outdated Conscious Rap tropes, the rhyme schemes and flows are dreadfully stale and habitual, and the hooks are repetitive, wholly lacking in the entertainment department. As Eyez confirms, Cole hasn't evolved from that point, regressing, even so, to the days where those stereotypes began. Two years ago, down to the month, Cole released 2014FHD, in much the same fashion as today, with no album singles, no features, and limited notice. A slow, quiet, dull album that acts as every Cole haters' wet dream. 4 Your E yez Only is a narrative-confirmer. This i s the biggest issue with Cole's latest though it doesn't. I understand where and why it originated, but, as someone who enjoyed both Born Sinner and 2014 Forest Hills Drive, the extreme nature of such a claim always went over my head. You know, the tired cliche that Cole puts listeners to sleep never sat too well with me. About 4 Your Eyez Only though? J.Cole's fourth studio LP focuses so much on the message, drowning itself in social commentary, that the rest of the album only confirms the narrative that Cole's music works best as a sedative. It takes decades to alter the perception of a stereotype, and with these albums, these artists understand that, effectively making it cool to respect your young, not neglect them. What do these three have in common? An appreciation, understanding, and acceptance of a fatherly figure in the black community, all because the lead's themselves have recently witnessed a personal birth of their own. This brings me to 4 Your Eyez Only, and other albums this year, like Childish Gambino's Awaken, My Love and Chance's Coloring Book. Right now, no genre of music has pushed for a better world than Hip-Hop, with Kendrick Lamar, Chance The Rapper, J.Cole, and more, offering beliefs that would've been seen as soft, weak, or corny two decades ago. Those growing up listening, watching, or reading modern pieces will tend to utilize those firmly held beliefs in the opinions that'll form their foundation. While society influences art, art influences the future. I've often spoken about the importance art has on a malleable brain.
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