J. Cole - Cole World: Sideline Story Review

Posted by Bill Wannop on 09.27.2011

J. Cole has finally released his highly-anticipated debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story! But does the album live up to the hype or does he need to be put back on the sidelines? 411's Bill Wannop checks in with his full review!

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J. Cole is a new comer to hip hop, but has been steadily making a name for himself over the past two years being the first artist to be signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Label. J Cole began to make a bigger name for himself with his guest verse on the Jay-Z album The Blueprint 3 and dropping various critically acclaimed mixtapes. Many have heralded Cole as the next big thing, and the heir to Jay-Z’s throne. J Cole finally is here to drop his debut album, does J Cole prove he is worthy of all the praise, or does he need to be put back on the bench for some more seasoning?


Tracklisting:
1. "Intro" J. Cole
2. "Dollar and a Dream III" produced by The University, J. Cole*
3. "Can't Get Enough" (featuring Trey Songz) produced by Brian Kidd
4. "Lights Please" produced by J. Cole
5. "Interlude" produced by J. Cole
6. "Sideline Story" produced by J. Cole
7. "Mr. Nice Watch" (featuring Jay-Z) produced by J. Cole
8. "Cole World" produced by J. Cole
9. "In the Morning" (featuring Drake) produced by L&X Music
10. "Lost Ones" produced by J. Cole
11. "Nobody's Perfect" (featuring Missy Elliott) produced by J. Cole
12. "Never Told" produced by No I.D.
13. "Rise and Shine" produced by J. Cole
14. "God's Gift" produced by J. Cole
15. "Breakdown" produced by J. Cole

The first thing you realize when you listen to Cole World is that J. Cole takes his hip hop very seriously. Aside from the numerous free mixtapes J. Cole has dropped over the years in the build up to this album, J. Cole handles the majority of the production on this album; basically as a way to completely have creative control of the entire project. The result is an album that is completely true to Cole’s vision, but that will have mixed results from listeners.

J. Cole does have the lyrical talent, and really shows that on the opening track, “Dollar and a Dream III” rapping ‘Walk with a nigga, I give you my pain/So much on my mind I wonder how it fit in my brain/Scattered thoughts, dark secrets lead me to a blacker heart/Life can't get any worse, Stevie with his glasses off/Cause I still don't see hope, lookin' for a quick fix/When everyone I see is broke, get lost in weed smoke/Knowing it make it worse, thoughts roam uncontrollably/Barely trustin' niggas, over a decade they been knowin' me’. Cole continues the lyrical tracks on the songs “Sideline Story”, “Cole World”, “Lost Ones”, “God’s Gift (where he talks about waiting for Jay-Z outside his offices to give him a sample of his work. Jay originally shrugged him off, then 2 years later he found himself signed and on The Blueprint 3) and “Never Told”, showing that he rap with the best of them and is able to tell a story with his lyrics. There are a decent amount of positives with the album, but J. Cole wanted this album to be classic, but unfortunately he falls well short.

The track “Can’t Get Enough” has a decent enough beat; however Cole changes up his style and flow so much that you will think that the song features Kanye West as J. Cole sounds exactly like Mr. West. As well there seems to be a lot of filler on this album and it would have been much better as an album if it was left out 3 or 4 songs. Track like “Nobody’s Perfect” and the disappointing “Mr. Nice Watch” which features Jay-Z do not add anything to the album. Speaking of the jay-Z track, leading up to the release date, J.Cole made a big deal about trying to get a Jay-Z verse for the album. Many fans felt that it would have been a passing of the torch type moment between Jay and Cole, unfortunately it sounds like a phoned in verse from Jay and the track just lacks that monumental type sound that it should have had.



As well some of the tracks on the album have been released by Cole over 2 years before the album was released on his mixtapes. Tracks “Lights Please” and “In The Morning” were both released on mixtapes so some fans may feel cheated with these inclusions on the album (even though they both are decent tracks).



Lastly J. Cole handles most of the production for the album, and should be complemented as he shows some promise behind the boards. However one of the problems is that a lot of the songs sound very similar and after the first couple listens it was hard to differentiate between some tracks, especially on the first half of the album. Most of the tracks are of the slower tempo, and really there is no hit single on the album (the first intended single for the album “Who Dat” was released years ago and now no longer appears on the album). On the latter half Cole seems to pick up his production game giving some variable sounds such as the good “Rise and Shine” and “God’s Gift” with both tracks have a different sound that work well.

Many fans thought that this album would show that J. Cole is the heir to the Jay-Z throne, however after the last track plays fans will realize that is not the case, at least not yet. J. Cole shows great promise, with his lyrics and production and really creates a good debut album, but he still has some seasoning before he is truly able to create that great album.

The 411: J. Cole dropped his anticipated debut and aimed to create a instant classic, unfortunately he fell short of the mark. J. Cole shows great promise, with his lyrics and production, but he still has some seasoning before he is truly able to create that great album.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]