J. Cole has a track on his new mix tape entitled “Blow Up”. Cole predicts the success of his rapping with his punch line, “Bitch I’m about to blow up.” Well to no surprise, one of the lower key rappers is doing just that. Friday Night Lights is J. Cole’s latest attempt to intrude your headphones and keep us hungry fans full until his debut album, Cole World.
I cannot understand what is more impressive. Is it that J. Cole has a talent for making a bunch of words flow so effortless? Or is that he produced almost every single song on Friday Night Lights? A combination will give the occasional listener a reason to sit back and enjoy a classic.
Friday Night Lights begins with a ballad of piano and Cole’s voice echoing as he eases the listener into taking the bait. He explains how this mix tape is where he will make a name for himself. Cole teases the listener into the true track, “Too Deep For The Intro”. The track’s name explains it enough. Cole introduces us to a new blend of rap. A track full of comparisons from Nas to the new age flow, Cole sums up his effort with the closer, “if they don’t know your dreams, than they cant shoot em down”.
An element of J. Cole’s latest effort that sticks out is the lack of guest appearances, which is a huge positive. With the help of DC Based rapper Wale, Cole and Wale meet again on “You Got It”. The track features an upbeat punch with a mix of distant drums and Cole’s signature piano touches. He does not stop there. J. Cole adds Young Money heavyweight Drake on the track “In The Morning”. With both rappers having their ways with words, they explain a fictional story of love and making a one night stand last longer.
Here comes the time in the review where I need to pick a favorite song. Here’s the problem: there are too many songs that I favor. However one of the realist songs I’ve heard in quite sometime sticks out more than the others. “The Autograph” is strictly Jermaine Cole going off. This track features one of those feel good anthems, where Cole narrates his success and where he is in the world. In a very close second, “Home For The Holidays” is your classic 1970’s instrumental. The thing with J.Cole is that it does not matter what instrumental he’s rapping on, he will make it his own and do it better than anybody else in the game.
J.Cole leaves Friday Night Lights with the simply named track, “Farewell”, his final ode telling the listener where he stands in the world of rap. If you ask me, he’ll be here for a while. Friday Night Lights will go down as one of the top mix tapes of 2010. And it’s not too early to call it the top mix tape of the century.
Score: 94%
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