On Oct. 2, 2016, J. Cole dropped the ball on all his fans by announcing that the show at The Meadows Music Festival would be his “last show for a very long time.” Ever since that announcement it’s been a waiting game as fans were left on the edge of their seats since not only did he leave them with that news, but he also left them with no hints about a new album. Suddenly it happened, going back to the no features roots of his “2014 Forest Hill Drive” album, Cole dropped “4 Your Eyez Only” just as 2016 was ready to close down it’s doors. And let me tell you, this is what J. Cole fans have been waiting for.

2016 has been a rough year for rap music. Should we really even call it rap anymore? Trap music is chill and all, but does anyone truly know what any of those artists are saying. I’m not even talking about pronunciation (though I’m not gonna say that isn’t a problem). I’m talking about the feelings behind the music, the story in the lyrics, the realness in every line a rapper spits and a nice beat that isn’t distracting. I’m not trying to bash on anyone’s music because that would make me a hypocrite since I listen to it too. All I’m saying is the lyricism of J. Cole has reminded me what I’ve been missing this year.

“4 Your Eyez Only” is filled with the snippets of J. Cole’s life similar to “Forest Hill Drive”, but the main focus of “4 Your Eyez Only” appears to be a friend of his, James, who was murdered at the age of twenty-two. The narrative of the album implies an evolution of Cole’s understanding about the dangers of his “hood” mentality, something James did not get to experience before his death.

The two songs that were released alongside “4 Your Eyez Only” was “False Prophets” and “Everybody Dies.” The reason these two songs did not find their way onto the album has to deal with the completely different narrative these songs tackle. “Everybody Dies” rebukes everything about mainstream rap and J. Cole effortlessly runs the list off on “fake rappers” and “immature eight week rappers,” those lines hit in the perfect spot. Not to mention the shady lyrics of “False Prophets,”  discussing Kanye West who has been falling from grace recently. It’s all so perfect that if J. Cole were to turn around and put those two songs on it’s own album with six more songs then I would buy that too. He could have double dipped into two album glory, but I’m partially glad he didn’t. I’m not so sure my heart could handle all the truth.  

Now being born and raised in North Carolina, I’m probably going to always jump on Cole’s music because I’m proud to see a rapper from my home making it. J. Cole really has done it again. “4 Your Eyez Only” just made 2016 feel a little bit brighter.