J. Cole - The Fall-Off
This week I'm reviewing the newest album by conscious rapper J. Cole. I will admit this is my first time listening to an album of his, so I have no idea how this compares to his other works. This project is split into two halves, which are both about as long as some full LPs and have their own themes and topics.
The first half is very interesting musically, though it takes some time to ease the listener into it with some slightly more boring stuff, which isn't to say worse, rather meaning less unique. The lyrics are very well written, often reflecting on past behavior and feelings of leaving the place he came from behind. There's a lot of mentions of people from his past who have passed away, giving the whole thing an air of grief which is conveyed very well and, at least I feel, very moving. The flows are also impressively catchy, I can easily see a lot of the tracks on this project at least from the first half getting stuck in my head.
The second half kind of loses me. Even though I think it is technically more interesting from an instrumental perspective, said instrumentals don't evolve from the point they start at like they did in the first half. The same can also be said about the lyrics, which are also still good, but could have had more done with them. I really appreciate how much self reflection is done on this album in general, but, after going on for as long as it does, it starts feeling almost formulaic within its own context.
Overall I'm feeling a 7/10 on this one.