J. Cole “4 Your Eyez Only”: A Review in Emoji
J. Cole’s new album will make you 😷😷😷
As sage advice goes, only death and taxes are certain in life. Personally, I’d add one more: J. Cole is definitely, most certainly not a good rapper. It’s not so much that he’s bad at the pure craft of flowing (I would even offer that he’s respectable in this area), but as an artist he is altogether just not that exciting or appealing or groundbreaking or good. However, his latest effort, “4 Your Eyez Only,” is decent. And by decent I mean listening to it doesn’t make me want to barf halfway through, or at all for that matter. This is a legitimate step up.
The record is 10 tracks long, with zero features and production done entirely by Cole himself. Cole’s moody flow (and singing ☹️) is on display as he relives the narrative of a friend who died young dealing drugs and relays that friend’s story to his now father-less daughter. Sonically it’s nocturnal, somber even and yeah, all in all isn’t that bad. Thus I decided to review it, track-by-track, only using emojis and grading the following criteria: beat, flow, lyrics, singing (❌ = no singing), and overall verdict. And so here it is, a review of “4 Your Eyez Only” … in emoji:
1.For Whom The Bell Tolls
Beat: 😁
Lyrics: 😐 💅
Flow: 😒 😕 😞
Singing: 🗣👈🙅♂️
Overall: 😐
2. Immortal
Beat: 😯😏🔊🔂🔂
Lyrics: 😮🎯🎯
Flow: 👍👏
Singing: ❌
Overall: 😏
3. Deja Vu
Beat: 👀 😰 🙊
Lyrics: 😤 🙄 💤 💤
Flow: 😣
Singing: ❌
Overall: 😴😴
4. Ville Mentality
Beat: 🌧🌚⛈
Lyrics: 😧😕😑
Flow: 💤
Singing: 😳 🔪😥🔫 💦🔌😫
Overall: 🤕
5. She’s Mine Pt. 1
Beat: 😎🎻 🎹
Lyrics: 😔😢☔️😿
Flow: 🆒
Singing: 🙄😷🤒
Overall: 😔
6. Change
Beat: ♻️♻️♻️
Lyrics: 🤔👂👂👍
Flow: 👍👍
Singing: ❌❌🙏🙏
Overall: 🆗
7. Neighbors
Beat: 😱🔥🔥🔥😱
Lyrics: 😯🙌😯
Flow: ♻️♻️♻️♻️♻️♻️
Signing: ❌❌❌🙏🙏🙏
Overall: 😏
8. Foldin Clothes
Beat: 😎🚗😎🚗
Lyrics: 😂👎😂👎😂👎😂👎😂👎😂👎😂
Flow: ⚰️
Singing: ❌❌
Overall: 👎👎👎👎👎
9. She’s Mine Pt. 2
Beat: 😢🎻 🎹
Lyrics: 👶👼😢😢😢
Flow: 🆒
Singing: 🚨🆘🚨
Overall: 😔😔
10. 4 Your Eyez Only
Beat: 🎻😎🎺
Lyrics: 👏👏👏✊✊
Flow: 😏🎯😏🎯
Singing: ❌
Overall: 😬
Generally speaking, “4 Your Eyez Only” is a solid, listenable record. Prevalent of course is still Cole’s cringeworthy bars (i.e. All of “Foldin Clothes” — the man literaly rhymes “almond milk” with “almond milk” 🤔🤔🤔) and unrelenting J. Cole-ian-ness and no, I would still never ever say “hey play that new J. Cole track,” but that’s perfectly OK with me.
Overall: ⭐️⭐️ out of 5.
