J. Cole needs to diversify his sound to maintain hip-hop relevance
Cole haters and the large “stanbase” that the rapper has cultivated throughout his career have fought for years about the J. Cole problem. While he’s immensely talented, his past three albums — 2014’s “2014 Forest Hills Drive,” 2016’s “4 Your Eyez Only” and 2018’s “KOD” — all sound the same to listeners’ ears, causing his music to become boring for many.
Cole fans continue to be mesmerized by the great lyricism that he always puts forth, illustrated by his impressive feat of three albums going platinum, or selling one million copies, without including featured artists. But I find myself looking to Cole to see what else he has in his rapping toolbox.
In this music streaming generation, people don’t listen to full albums anymore, opting instead to click on songs with their favorite artists featured on the track. Because of that, I can understand the itch to go against the norm and have no features on your album.
Even rappers like 21 Savage and Travis Scott have gone the route of not listing features on their track lists, in an effort to encourage the listener to fully take in the music these artists have put forth. It’s difficult for an artist to go gold — selling 100,000 copies — let alone go platinum off a body of work where their voice and cadence is the only one present for 40 or more minutes.
After a while this can get tiring to the listener, unless songs incorporate a catchy hook or a featured artist to add their own style. This is why Kendrick Lamar goes to U2 for a feature on his song “XXX.” from his most recent album, “DAMN.” Tactics like these are how mostly lyrical rappers are able to grow their fan base.
We’ve also seen this with Drake, who has recently aligned himself with rappers like Lil Baby, Gunna, Migos and Future, each having recently carved out their own spots in hip-hop. This has helped Drake to grow into one of the biggest hip-hop artists, as he incorporates styles from the new generation into his new music.
My favorite Cole album – “Born Sinner” – came before his trend of doing it all by himself. The 2013 album included features, creating an album that sounded better sonically.
In Cole’s song “Miss America,” he raps in the hook, “Am I about dollars or about change? / Am I about knowledge or about brains?” There are many lyrics that can impress listeners through his use of metaphors and double entendre, as shown in “Born Sinner.”
In addition to writing his own lyrics, Cole also has a hand in producing a majority of his beats. There are many parts that go into making a song, though. You have to write the lyrics, find someone to make the beat — which is a very tedious process — and then recite your lyrics to the tempo of the beat. This is why most rappers get a producer to make beats for them, as seen in 21 Savage’s mixtape “Savage Mode,” where all the beats were produced by Metro Boomin.
All these facts make for an impressive run of Cole having success in the music industry. But it doesn’t necessarily make for good music.
Since his recent album “KOD,” Cole put out a single in late January called “MIDDLE CHILD,” produced by himself and T-Minus. But it didn’t do much to deviate from the sound of his previous three projects. On “MIDDLE CHILD,” we get the same feeling from Cole that’s similar to his past three albums — a calm vibe mostly established by the beat, but supplemented by Cole’s cadence.
“MIDDLE CHILD” makes Cole’s musical direction seem unclear, but paying attention to its nuances is crucial for fans and haters alike.
