Album Review: J.Cole — Born Sinner
I am by no means a rap/hip-hop junkie, not before, and not now. I enjoy listening to some rap here and there, including some of that mainstream stuff they play on the radio that is catchy. But I’m always willing to try something new.
Lately, I have given the recent Kanye and Jay-Z releases a try, and have found that except for a few tracks, not really my cup of tea. Call me simple-minded, but lyrically they confuse me with their abstract metaphors and allusions. But, through this experimentation, I have discovered the prowess of J. Cole. His style is different. His raps tell stories, and his flow is continuous and smooth. He doesn’t try to envelop his purpose in obscure references and allusions, he gives it to you straight up, and his production is pretty simplistic compared to that of Jay-Z and Kanye. But the key to J. Cole’s raps is his lyricism and the way he is able to evoke emotion and seem relatable. I first listened to Born Sinner via Spotify (a great way to test out the material before making a purchase). And I listened to it straight through, tracks #1–21. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it, his lyrics are meaningful and his songs tell stories. Like his twitter profile says “Let these words be the Colors, I’m just paintin my heart”. — lyrics from “Chaining Day”. A very accurate way of describing the way J. Cole raps and the subjects he decides to rap about. Since buying the hard-copy CD version of Born Sinner on Amazon a day or two ago (which is very rare since, again, I don’t listen to that much hip-hop), I’ve listened to the entire album probably 2–3 times already. It’s an album that I can just sit down and listen to from start to end at any time of the day. Every song is a hit for me. I honestly can’t point out a single song as my favorite, they’re all my favorites. J. Cole is honest, hard-hitting, and he keeps it real all the way. In my opinion, this album definitely puts J. Cole on the map and is the beginning of his attempt to “bring hip-hop back.”
If I had to, I’ll name a few of my very favorites on the album, but just remember that all of them are fantastic…
Power Trip
Trouble
Runaway
She Knows
Crooked Smile
Chaining Day
Let Nas Down (the remix featuring Nas is also really really good, check it here)
Born Sinner
Miss America
New York Times
Land of the Snakes
Forbidden Fruit
Villuminati
Mo’ Money (interlude)
yeah… that’s a lot of songs that I just named.
I really encourage you to give his album a listen, I think it’s GREAT.
Note: Music is very subjective, this is just my opinion, based on my taste :)
It’s clear he is more dedicated to the genre of hip-hop than to that of radio success. I think his fans, and fans of hip-hop, those who loved Tupac and Nas, appreciate that. And it shows through the success of the album as a whole, selling pretty impressive numbers the past couple of weeks, Born Sinner is on its way to being the #1 album in the country.
Just because not a lot of his songs are played on the radio or seen charting on the singles chart, doesn’t mean people aren’t listening. I just ordered up a digital and hard copy of Born Sinner. Keep up the great work J.
I’m a fan.
#coleworld
