J. Cole has never shied away from Nas comparisons. From using Esco's beats, to even titling a track "Villmatic" in the early mixtapes before his label debut, Jermaine fed off the comparisons. Honestly, who can blame dude for using it to build his buzz. Problem is when that label debut finally came fans of the mixtapes were left thinking "the hell is this?!" The term watered down doesn't do justice to Cole World...I'm a fan, and in comparison to the mixtapes leading up even I think the story shoulda been sidelined...ya see what I did there?
Born Sinner got better, even acknowledging the sort-comings of its predecessor and providing the title for this post. Track 15 summed up Cole's career to that point. The reason Cole World was so bad and Born Sinner was just a start to fans getting what they were promised with the mixtapes was addressed in "Let Nas Down".
If you've made it this far through the post and knew anything about the subject matter beforehand then you know that without mention of Forrest Hills Drive this is two years late, but like everything in hip hop and everything I plan to bring up in my posts, this all ties together.
Cole chased charts with Cole World, though he addressed it on "Let Nas Down" at the end of Born Sinner he had not yet overcome this.
The inspiration for "Let Nas Down" was a phone call from No I.D. saying Nas told him he hated "Work Out," Cole's biggest single at the time which he admitted was obviously inspired by Kanye's "The New Workout Plan." The thing about all of this is Kanye can put out a track like "The New Work Out Plan" and basically get a pass. While he's clever lyrically, Kanye will always be thought of as a producer-rapper. Kanye is a producer who can rap. Cole on the other hand is a rapper who can produce. After the early buzz the expectations for Cole were to drop hot lines that went deeper than Kanye's early introspective social commentary. Say what you will about Kanye, hate him or love him but his first three albums were dope and 808's & Heartbreak was solid. I won't lie, I thought he was the second coming of Dilla. RIP James Dewitt Yancey.
Nas is no stranger to going the commercial route in search of hits (You Owe Me) and let Cole know to just charge it to the game in the remix to the titular track Made Nas Proud. Nas actually comes with heat on the remix, saying he was warning him about the industry "Radio records are needed I just wanted to bring the warnin'/Global warmin' to that cold/cole world you was breathin'" Not surprising that Nas dropped a hot track, you just don't know what to expect sometimes since he's one of the most talented emcees we've seen but also one of the most inconsistent. One of the most talented but also one of the most inconsistent...fitting Cole got the Esco comparisons early on but ironic how their early career trajectory would mirror each other.
Cole still hasn't dropped his Illmatic, there won't EVER be another Illmatic...perfect storm. Jermaine did his damn thing on Forrest Hills Dive though. Finally the brother from Fayettenam started living up to his potential, shaking his role as hip-hop's Rudy Gay.
Stay on the lookout for my (very) late review of Forrest Hills Drive.
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