HOW COLE HAS ME READY FOR HIS NEW ALBUM
2018, has been a spectacular year in music and it’s only getting better. Cardi delivered, Nicki is coming back strong, and Drizzy is readying a career defining album. Hell even Kendrick is out here winning Pulitzer Prizes like he’s Ernest Hemingway.
But this Roc Nation signee and Dreamville’s Commander-in-Chief, has his own trick up his sleeve. His new album “K.O.D.” is set to release 4/20 and it has the world on its toes, specifically me.
Here’s the 3 factors that has me ready for the latest Jermaine project.
I. ART DIRECTION
ART by Detroit-based ARTIST, SIXMAU - https://www.instagram.com/sixmau
The cover for Cole’s latest project is eye catching to say the least. It features Cole wearing a crown with children beneath him indulging in various drugs.
After a closer look me and the homie determined there was more to this painting that met the eye.
The children beneath Cole seemed to be lined up in an order of gateway drugs to the harshest level of drugs and it looks like what seems to be a loop, that takes the viewer to the harshest level of drugs back to the point of death (the last image behind the child is a skull).
Realizing the underlying messages in the artwork for Cole’s album made me think, how deep does the album go? [how deep is the intro? Lol, throwback Cole reference]. If the album’s half as good as the art I won’t turn it off for a while.
notice how the kids are riding the drugs like it’s a rocket ship, essentially they’re getting “high”
II. MYSTIQUE
Campaign for the album started with a series of shows stretching from New York to London exclaiming the public to arrive early and to leave their phones behind.
Random Cole shows in such prominent places makes one think, “what exactly is Cole up to”? Well it turns out, J.Cole played the crowd his newest album in which he encouraged listeners to cherish hearing the album first rather than explaining its contents. That in which only makes anticipation for the album even greater, its like someone seeing Black Panther before you but not giving out any of its details yet.
The mystique also increases with the album’s meaning. We spent almost half the day (okay slight boost) trying to figure out what the hell does “K.O.D.” means. The meaning holds such importance because it would give us insight into what the album could possibly sound like, This could be compared to when people were trying to guess the acronym for Yeezy’s last album. At that time all we had was “T.L.O.P.” who would’ve known it would’ve stood for The Life of Pablo.
Mystery always work in one’s favor when used correctly and in Cole’s case it is working quite well.
III. REDEMPTION
Its time to be honest fellow hip hop fans I did not enjoy Jermaine’s last effort, 4 Your Eyez Only. I thought it was cool how in the end, he was speaking from his deceased friend’s perspective but at the end of the day, it was just something I could not connect with. I haven’t really been engulfed in J.Cole since The Come Up, Warm Up, Friday Night Lights days. Those were the times I felt his hunger in every bar and I really felt like his soul was seaping through the records. Forest Hills was a great album but even so I didn’t find myself repeating that album much either. My favorites were “January 28th” and “St. Tropez” everything else really didn’t compare but they weren’t bad songs.
Also, I was tired of seeing Cole have no features or outside production. I feel like he would greatly benefit from both being that he doesn’t collaborate as often as his peers.
Anyways the energy from this album is daring me to say this could easily be J.Cole’s best album to date. I believe he will not fail and he will deliver just like I knew he could.
Artwork by ME, http://www.instagram.com/the__corner
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