I'm crazy busy at school so imma keep this post concise. I've been a huge fan of J. Cole from near the beginning (circa The Warm Up) and having seen him live in Saskatoon, I had huge expectations for his debut. Hey, I'm sure pretty much everyone who'd listened to his last two mixtapes were in the same boat as me. The Warm Up and Friday Night Lights are easily two of my favorite mixtapes of all time and it's been a long time coming. So without further ado here are quick ADD thoughts on the album (Rorschach style) :Needed more outside production. Most beats sounded too similar. In the Morning should've been a bonus track. Lights Please was good enough to make the tracklist. J. Cole's flow got lazy over the years. I like rapid-fire delivery J. Cole more. Glad to see Jay-Z was able to get on here. Album art is...bad. Should've got hook singers for most songs.
Overall not a bad album, but still a bit disappointing coming from a long time fan. I should clarify that I think it's still worth the purchase since most of the songs were actually pretty good and none of them were reeeaaallllyyy bad, but many sounded mixtape quality to me. I'm still a big fan and I hope J. Cole's sophomore release has more outside production. Especially given J. Cole's connects (Kanye anyone?).
P.S. - I realize this was a pretty unsatisfactory "review" (I wrote this in about 20 minutes), so for another perspective be sure to check out Big Ghostface's review. Especially if you're a fan of Ghostface Killah. Hilarity!
Favorite Tracks:
Lights Please
Sideline Story
Mr. Nice Watch ft. Jay-Z
Lost Ones
God's Gift
Breakdown
7.5/10
