Anyone who encountered his numerous mixtapes can tell you that before his official debut landed, rapper/producer
J. Cole
had spent some time bringing the whole
Drake
,
Wale
, and
Big Sean
style to a more street level. It's worth mentioning because
Cole World: The Sideline Story
has little of that debut desire to cross over, and while the multi-talented
Cole
is a skilled, interesting beat-maker in his own right, a superstar production would have certainly made this album more approachable. Instead,
No I.D.
-- the biggest behind-the-boards name here -- turns in a sluggy, druggy construction for "Never Told,"
's deep, rich study of father/son confidence.
handles most of the rest on his own, turning in B+ stabs at dubstep ("Mr. Nice Watch" with guest and label boss
Jay-Z
), indie-hop ("Cole World" or "flossin' with a laptop"), and his own humbler version of the
Roc-A-Fella
sound (the great single "Lights Please"). Add an "Intro" and then a part III -- the first two parts to be found on earlier mixtapes -- and you're practically telling the aboveground crowd they're stale from the start, but the tradeoff is a talent that has matured in the underground and is free of any forced outside influence.
's fantastic style shoots off bold punch lines one minute ("I blow brains,
Cobain
-style") and then goes deep the next, with equal skill and all while stringing together eye-level, real-life stories that have that classic flow. The reservation count is high and the flaw count is zero, and in this case, that's the proper formula for a rich hip-hop album. Take a couple listens, let it sink in, and then discover that
Cole World
is one hell of a debut. ~ David Jeffries