BY JACOB MONROY

Jermaine Cole, otherwise know as J. Cole, released his third studio produced album on Dec. 9. The talented artist released two singles before the actual release of the album, “Everybody Dies” and “False Prophets”. The early release single “Everybody Dies” consists of disses on the newly famous rappers Lil Yachty and Lil Uzi Vert. Cole continued to bash on a more well-known and successful rapper, Kanye West, in the hit single “False Prophets”. The album includes ten unique songs with many different sounds. Two notable hits are “Neighbors” and “Deja Vu”. These two pieces have chill vibe beats, while compositions such as “She’s Mine, Pt. 1 & 2” has a more mellow feeling.

J. Cole was very meticulous with certain songs and the message sent within each respective piece. The album is merely rapped in someone else’s narrative and perspective. Some may say that the album is lacking bass and is very boring to listen to, but that criticism is because they compare it to the other high achieving recent album “2014 Forest Hills Drive”, which had more heavy beats and bass. In my opinion, the album deserves a ⅘ star rating because I feel that J. Cole didn’t fully meet the high expectations that we all have due to his previous works.