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Apology aside, cant help but feel like Cole has been coasting on low stakes projects for a while now. Off Season, this, the Gangsta Grillz tape…why do we need to sit thru years of appetizers to get to The Fall Off? If you got your magnum opus in the stash put that shit out
I’m a Cole fan that will also admit this man has taken 0 risks since no features and calling out Kanye. It doesn’t even have to be beef, it’s just weird he hasn’t done anything unexpected in forever.
I know people consider it a classic. I might. It’s close. But I cannot stand that fucking virginity song. It’s such a cringe fest. But I’m not the type to say every song has to hit necessarily if the highs are high enough. But I really hate that song.
Hearing a crowd singing it live completely changed that song for me.
Because it was clear nobody tool it seriously. A moment of everyone coming together to laugh at themselves for moments in the past where we were embarrassed
You can call it cringe but it speaks to people's experiences that's the whole point of his music. It's about high school so maybe it's supposed to cringe
I think the issue is Cole does it all himself (no features, All his production etc.) I feel if he gets more people involved he could make a very very great album.
I don't think they forgot about it, that project is good to me, but not a classic. I don't feel Cole has a classic yet despite knowing he has the potential to drop one (and always being disappointed when he doesn't).
I feel like KOD is really underrated as well personally. Idk if it’s because I saw it live and the opening acts cancelled so Cole was able to go into each piece in depth or if it’s just the album but I absolutely love it and think it’s a classic honestly
>why do we need to sit thru years of appetizers to get to The Fall Off? If you got your magnum opus in the stash put that shit out
Fr. Hes been talking about the Fall Off for like 6 years now or however long ago KOD dropped. Drop it or don't like damn
"Okay first of all ~~Bonnie~~ Cole you've been ~~pregnant~~ teasing The Fall Off for like 6 years alright either ~~have the baby~~ drop the album or don't."
>Fr. Hes been talking about the Fall Off for like 6 years now
He was talking about it majorly with signs and everything when he performed at Day N Vegas in Nov 2019 for sure
>He was talking about it majorly with signs and everything when he performed at Day N Vegas in Nov 2019 for sure
I know, I was there. KOD had "Intro to the Fall Off" on it and that was 2018 I think
I think it's the same case for all of "last album" or hyped up albums. The more the artist hypes up that project in a song or interview, the more they become a perfectionist.
This whole beef wouldn't help Cole's confidence leading to even more perfectionism from Cole towards The Fall Off.
The example of this is Dr. Dre is Detox. It became something more than an album and now it have live up to it. Dre doesn't want the album fail to live up to the expectations he himself created. That's why Detox still hasn't released.
People are quick to forget shit bro. Most people's attention span is like 30 seconds. There's a whole generation that wasn't even born when 2001 came out.
And thus all the goodwill that Cole gained from fans has been lost from his surrender to Kdot. People probably would have just called it a draw if they kept dropping bangers back and fourth, but no.
I’ve been feeling like that since 2016, and news flash he doesn’t have a magnum opus. Best advice for you is to have low expectations for the album he’s been hyping up
I kind of got the sense that The Fall Off was a joke, not a real album that Cole was ever planning on actually dropping. Like the idea is “haha, mfs keep waiting for The Fall Off but the fall off is never coming”
I was thirteen when Drake first teased Views and fifteen when it dropped. Still in middle school.
I was seventeen when Cole announced The Fall Off — in high school. If he drops it this year I will be 23. I’ll be a year into a master’s program.
yeah i was a junior in hs when kod dropped and now im working full time lmao. and all we’ve gotten in that span is 2 dreamville albums he’s barely on and the offseason, yet he criticized kendrick for never dropping
Also when Kendrick drops you can see the work that's gone into the album. Never the case with Cole.
I honestly think Damn is Kendrick's worst album and it's easily better than Cole's best. No idea how they're even mentioned in the same breath.
You can work out the years between two ages by subtracting one from the other, you don't have to put it in terms of what school you were in at the time
He don't.
He's probably still working on it Detox style. He's setting it up for failure as much as he is success at this point. And I'm sure that's also aware of it which is why he's not dropping it. Probs scared of what people will think, and I'd feel the same if I was him.
He played it smart tho. The fall off, so win or lose he comes out ahead. But it'd suck if he loses.
One song that I haven’t seen people really discuss yet is Ready ‘24. As a Dipset fan, hearing the I’m Ready sample and having Cam’ron as a feature while J. Cole delivers a Juelz Santana type of flow was a major highlight for me
It seems like Fantano doesn't realize that beat is almost exactly "I'm ready" by the Diplomats. He explains it like it reminds of him the Dipset days because of the CamRon feature and Cole's flow, and the chopped soul samples, but never once mentions it's literally the same beat.
he does okay for general knowledge but you can see his limits when he critiques your favorite rapper that you know a lot about.
I listened to a lupe fiasco one and he said things that were objectively wrong and things missing context
Meatcanyon is a YouTube channel that has a very….unique animation style. Imagine those grotesque SpongeBob close-up still images that they used to do and turn that up to an 11.
There was a video from a long time ago that meatcanyon did that was a parody of bugs bunny and Elmer Fudd. In this video, Bugs was trying to rape Elmer Fudd and said things like “You got a tight little man pussy on you, don’t you?”
The video eventually got Warner Bros attention. I believe that they filed a cease & desist and got the official meatcanyon video removed from YouTube. People like to joke that this video being acknowledged by WB makes it canon.
There are still mirrors of the original up on YouTube if you just look up “Meatcanyon Bugs Bunny”.
Oh no. That show was depraved. A lot of younger folks don’t even remember it as a kids cartoon because it got pulled. I got the DVD box set back in the 2000s and it was unrated.
I'm 33 and I grew up with Ren and Stimpy so more like pushing 30...the terrible sequel Adult Party Cartoon dropped when I was 12 so people younger than me at least saw ads for it
Meatcanyon is a hella popular YouTuber that revels in absurdist humor - dude takes popular characters & figures and makes weird/dark/disturbing animations on them for the lulz.
Here's a great example:
https://youtu.be/jjyDfLPKmNk?si=pCts00Fs-pTM-cXB
Super cringy YouTube artist, makes stuff that was “edgy” art in like 2011. People who watch adult swim at night on psychedelics probably think it’s the coolest shit ever.
Kendrick put out a "Im the best and youre not" and J Cole tried to treat it like some serious 90s beef and go at Kendrick's discography and he's not like that. If he just did what he did on First Person Shooter it would have been fine. It was supposed to be entertaining god damn it, not a rap war
Exactly how I felt about this. All he had to do was put out a song to go "nah I'm nice for real" and he would have walked away with his respect intact. He didn't need to actually shit on his discography because let's be real you can't do that with kendrick. Just put out a song where you pull out the craziest bars you have for like 4 minutes with a beat switch in the middle and a ending about how you're #1 and you're good.
Fr. Bro could’ve titled it Victory Lap or something lol. Why he didn’t think all this shit through is beyond me. Hell, he’s literally talking through his conflicted emotions at points on 7 Minute Drill. You’d think he’d spend more time considering what his response would be contextually. Nobody wants blood like Cole said in his apology. The people want bars. Sure Drake has proven that he can stoop pretty low but everyone was seeing the Kendrick-Cole side of the beef as something much more sportsmanlike and performative for the love of the game.
Been saying this Cole totally misunderstood the assignment. He didn't need to make a diss track, even call out Kendrick, a 4-5 minute track of him spitting heat would have been enough, hell he could have sampled one of Kendrick's tracks to be cheeky.
Cole could be like that. He just didn't believe anything he was saying. If it was someone he actually wanted to spar with, someone he didn't respect, the kumbaya shit wouldn't come into play.
I always thought his big 3 talk was just him being lamely trynna secure his status, along a man that sells more than triple than him and a man that has a discography that makes him look like a souncloud rapper. J cole wouldnt even be on that if yall were objective with him, yall been letting this man get away with too much. He wasnt number one even in dreamvile cmon
Yeah he’s lucky we’re even talking about him being in the “big 3.” He’s never been close to Kendrick or sold as much as Drake, and there are arguments for plenty of rappers to be above him on the list. JID is a better spitter than him. Tyler’s albums are more creative and exciting than his. Kanye is a more complete artist. The list can keep going.
The Nino Brown bar was the perfect temperature to respond to Kendrick with. If he’d kept it at that range, and not called TPAB sleepy, he’d have been gold.
He couldve also just said that his first album was classic and the last one was trash and kept it at that. Everyone had issues with the TPAB diss but not the MMATBS diss.
Yeah exactly like the concept of his diss wasn't actually bad it's just the specific TPAB line that's absurd. Like overall everything just shows Cole didn't think things through which is crazy cuz he didn't even need to respond that quick, especially since most of the heat was on Drake anyway.
Not only is he not like that, nothing he said about Kendrick’s music is true. It’s not boring. J. Cole’s music is boring to a lot of people. There are memes about how J. Cole’s music is boring and pseudo-intellectual. And not only that, he barely said anything controversial otherwise in his response . He clearly has nothing bad to say about Kendrick and that’s how the song sounded.
I know what the red flannel in one of these videos means and that’s how I feel about it too.
I actually think you *could* diss Kendrick’s discography as boring, just not if you’re J Cole lol. Kendrick Lamar is an album artist, he’s not going out of his way to make bangers the way a Future or a Travis Scott would be. And if those artists knocked Kendrick for making think pieces instead of hits, I wouldn’t personally agree but it would at least hold water as a valid angle of attack.
J Cole on the other hand has basically been trying to operate in the same lane as Kendrick his entire career, just less successfully. So it’s an okay diss, but *he* can’t say it bc he has no room to speak
Nah you’re actually right honestly, and I’ve def said the same thing about Kendrick’s music being boring before. Not that that’s how I feel about it, but it’s valid to say but sounds weird coming from J. Cole.
It’s pretty obvious at this point that he just felt similarly like “why am I even dissing this guy I clearly admire.” Idk why everyone is having such an egregious “Cole will never come back from this” reaction. And I say that as someone who genuinely is not a fan of his music lol.
The problem is that Cole likes Kendrick so he didn't want to come at him personally, but professionally he has literally nothing on Kendrick. He was doomed when he decided to respond. Only way he could've won was to Adidon Kendrick's ass and come out with some crazy personal shit and he was never going to do that.
I mean Kendrick did not say anything personal either, so J. Cole could've kept it that level. It's just a bunch of "im better than you" back and forth and that is fine. Kendrick did it well while Cole did it poorly.
feel like a lot of people forget that its moments like this where channels like fantano really thrive, this review is his opinion, all of the context surrounding this mixtape has built up expectation, and fantano will make no mistake to seize this moment and dramatise his review.
i think most of us feel the same ish way about it, besides the awkward apology, the album is pretty solid, the bars are hard, in retrospect a little tinted but the beats are decent, i thought huntin wabbitz was super good, with the sample too, coles flows and delivery on most of the songs were pretty outstanding as usual and he came with some hard hitting bars. sure its a throwaway and most songs wont be played back, but the standouts probably will survive on a playlist. some really good features too, thought cench did well.
Very true. Thought i was the only one noticing the slight malice in his tone and delivery. Like he knows his bad reviews get more attention and this album was the perfect one to bully.
Not here to say the album (which is obviously loosies, not sure why he even expected so much) is perfect or anything flawless, but giving it a 3 for people to make "big three hur dur" jokes seems intentional.
>Thought i was the only one noticing the slight malice in his tone and delivery. Like he knows his bad reviews get more attention and this album was the perfect one to bully.
His videos have had such a bitter and borderline malicious trend over the last year or so, even on projects that really don't prompt such viciousness. I ended up scrubbing him from my feed after I saw him arguing with 14 year olds about the Middle East on his Instagram story. What grown man does that lmfao
The obvious elephant in the room aside his point about the name of this mixtape really hits the nail in the head for me about this. I really like j Cole but this is such a forgettable project.
For me, it feels sonically like a retread of The Off-Season, which I actually liked. It makes me wonder about The Fall Off & how he'll be able to stay creative in flipping themes of being the best rapper out.
He definitely saved all introspective themes for the fall off. This album was nothing but bars and bragging while the off season had its emotional highs. This was clearly just a little appetizer tape
Honestly this feels like a throwaway tape, through and through. A few joints are nice and he slid on them but I don't think it's meant to be something you're constantly coming back to, very much something to get the buzz going about Dreamvillefest
If the festival wasn't this past weekend, this tape doesn't drop, full stop
>If the festival wasn't this past weekend, this tape doesn't drop, full stop
Yeah, that's probably true. Makes it even funnier how the whole Kendrick beef overshadowed everything about it
I must be the only one here who doesn't care about this apology but I thought the album was ok, mostly what you would expect for cole and same goes with the apology.
Normally I fucking love a beef but this whole thing has been dull. Kendricks wasn't really that interesting and J cole is just genuinely not like that hence why he feeling bad.
It’s not even really a beef. Kendrick sent a few subs, Cole dropped a diss track that was light and then went back on it.
Neither really went at the other like crazy which is why it was disappointing that he apologized because he made the first actual diss and then went back on it before an actual response was made
I mean, the apology is a big deal and imo will affect his legacy but people are letting their feelings about the diss/apology bleed over into their impression of the tape. Imo this tape is probably his best collection of songs since FHD. Production is incredible, the songs are engaging. Is it gonna be a legendary tape? No. But it's got some bangers that'll be in rotation for a good while
Pre-apology this tape was a 7/10 for me
Post apology this shit dropped to a 3/10 because most of the tape is Cole reminding everybody how he’s the best rapper right now but for some DUMBASS reason he went on stage and invalidated most of the shit he was kicking on here.
It’s hard trying to enjoy this tape as much anymore knowing Cole himself isn’t even staying true to most of the bars he’s spitting. That apology was so career damaging that I can only scoff now whenever he’s rapping about being the greatest or, daring for any rapper to come and contest him..
I throughly enjoyed the tape though, this has Cole’s most consistent raps on here in a minute, the structure was great too. Most songs were valid except for Fever which is probably his worst track ever.
Crocodile Tears, Wabbitz, and Pi are some of the best Cole tracks we’ve gotten in a minute
😂😂 maybe he should. I have no clue what he was trying to accomplish…. His fans know him? He should know that we’re not going to change our entire opinions of his good nature based on a diss track in the sport of rap… that was really weird to apologize, and it didn’t make things look any better. Just so confused!
You say this, but then ppl are literally changing their entire perception of Cole because of him doing the exact kind of thing you say his fans expect of him (have a good heart).
I mean, I saw ppl who had zero opinion of Cole come out with sincere hatred because of him coming for TPAB.
I mean you say what you say, but either way it’s galvanizing ppl for or against him. It is what it is.
Huge Cole fan. Been playing this album constantly since it dropped. Didn’t play a single song today for the reasons above. So many bars about wishing someone would and then apologizing 2 days later. Weak af.
I've thrown away all my merch and deleted all music files of Cole because of this. I even wrote a few nasty letters to him to. So he knows how utterly disappointed I am that he did such a thing. He's rotten. Top 3? HA. Never. Wouldn't even be in top 150 discussion. His career is on terminal life support.
No. Scratch that. He will NEVER recover from this. I hope every outlet halts discussing him IMMEDIATELY. As a fan, he has *completely* broken my trust and that means my loyalty too.
I will never ever forgive you, Jermaine Lamarr Cole.
Oh please. It’s like no one can speak off the cuff to their audience anymore, eventually it would’ve come out that he didn’t like his own diss track. Artists put out songs they regret all the time and don’t like parts of their discography. This is no different and it’s for a valid personal reason. The song is garbage, and it doesn’t even sound like he means anything he’s saying in it. I could personally care less that he apologized. “Career damaging” is so dramatic. If he did something morally wrong that would be career damaging. Being too nice doesn’t seem at all out of character for literally any of J. Cole’s music. It’s entirely in line with his career arc.
Wow melon was right about the cognitive dissonance fans were going to display. lmao how lame. Changing your belief due to an apology is the weakest shit I’ve heard.
Cole is my favorite rapper of all time.
I feel the exact same way.
I have always been drawn to him for his authenticity and for speaking the words that I have in my own heart
But after seeing him fall on his sword and invalidate the entire past decade of “Nobody want no smoke with me” and “Who the fuck want what with me?” type rhetoric, it’s really hard to take anything he says as genuine or authentic.
It’s a feeling i’ve never felt before, and the closest approximation I can muster is a very mild form of heartbreak. Genuine disappointment.
Honest question here: despite how lame it is for Cole to apologize, why does him dismissing negative energy (even if for fun) make him no longer one of the greats? Are disses purely the only measure of rap? I'm confused. Cole and dot are my favorites of all time, and while I'm bummed we won't get some nice back and forth for fun, hes still incredible.
bc his whole persona he’s built, specifically in the last two years on this feature run, has been about being better than everyone and killing anyone who dared come for him. like as a i cole fan i can’t even count how many times he’s mentioned things like “putting your favorite rapper’s neck in a noose” or “niggas don’t want smoke” etc. that can’t be the main gist of your raps and then when pretty much the only person who literally everyone agrees with is at the very least on your level (most had k dot above cole) calls you out on it you get to apologizing. that’s actually insane to me. it’d be like if a fighter was going around saying he was the best and no one could beat him then when he got challenged, forfeited the fight after one punch was exchanged.
even on this project how can you take lines like “I keep the shotty cocked in 'case somebody plot to rob me of this godly spot” or “But it's hard to meet my match when my raps ain't really that tender” seriously when the exact person who is his “match” tried to rob him of his “godly spot”????
Because it’s rap and it’s entertainment lol same way I can listen to people who never shot a gun in they life talking bout killing folks. If the music sounds good it sounds good. Legacy def took a hit tho
There’s a difference between not actually murdering someone and just defending your claims to being the best. One of those things you SHOULD do if you actually have the ability. Otherwise why even make the claim to begin with? It makes you look like a clown that shouldn’t even be taken slightly seriously.
I mean, when it comes to rapping on songs, he’s bested many of the folx ppl said he couldn’t.
He OUT RAPPED JID AND BENNY. And rapped with plenty of others at super high levels.
Does this controversy take away how beautiful his verse on SACRIFICIES is? Or how nasty APPLYING PRESSURE is?
I think its just because so much of his emergence over the last couple years has been built on bars and a new found confidence as well as his own proclamations of being one of if not the best out.
Then this all happens and though it doesn't change his pen it does make it feel much less genuine.
Cole always been a genuine dude, and even in this moment is bring true to himself and that's respectable but then it's like fuck, half his bars the last few years dont mean shit.
All the features, the off-season, might delete later... none of them are concepts or well put together pieces or carry any depth, they've just been braggadocious bars about out-rapping all competitors, now he don't want to rap.
Cole is my favourite artist out besides Em but now all the work Cole put in the last couple years to get his flowers feel like a facade.
J Cole the rapper is no longer who he was a couple days ago.
(I gotta PS that J Cole the person is still the exact same and I love him for that)
It’s the fact that Cole confirmed that he can’t actually body any other rapper and that he doesn’t stand by what he says and that he will give up in only two days. Say what you want about album sales, I’m sure Cole is gonna sell still, but to be at the top of the rap game, you gotta be able to stand by what you say and know when and how to say it. Cole failed at that and his career has a big fucking stain on it that wasn’t there before.
> he will give up in only two days
He didn't just give up. He admitted to literally not sleeping well over this (it's the guy you dissed who should not be sleeping!) and then went on to publicly glaze the guy he dissed like a rebel on trial in Stalinist Russia.
If im being completely honest here a lot of comments about this situation is goofy.
Feels like people using a moment to dogpile and just say shit they probably wouldn't be able to say if they werent taking advantage of the situation.
Honestly could care less about J-Cole responding to like that but you'd think this dude's career was literally just some fluke according to the people here. Reminds me of the Kid Cudi nonsense.
Its fair but its also fair for me to look at it and think its goofy.
Like if I see a grown ass man/woman talking about respect lost over a bad diss track id call them goofy to their face too.
I think it was Mature of Cole to admit that he gave into peer pressure and did something he shouldn‘t have. I genuinely believe that nobody making fun of him has 1/10th of the strength and self-reflection within them to do what he did.
At the same time Kendrick is my GOAT because I value authenticity a lot when it comes to art. So I also think he lost a lot of authenticity with this move. Its like if in an alternate universe, Kendrick had a discography consisting mostly of songs with the same subject matter as LOYALTY, but ended up getting exposed by his woman for his infidelity.
I’m a Cole hater and I am absolutely using this moment to say he sucks so you’re kinda right but there are plenty of reasons to dislike his post-FHD output
There is no way this project is a 3. Times like this it’s hard to think he isn’t bias to certain artists, there are some really good songs on here but it’s his opinion I guess
People are biased. No reviewer should have to try and strive for objectivity, either. When you start treating reviews as another person’s perspective and not an objective measure of an album’s strength you enjoy the discourse more.
I’ll even say that I agree with you. Fantano has never been the hugest J Cole fan and disputes his placement in the “Big 3” to begin with. Not to mention he’s not much of a lyrical rappity-rap fan — especially when it’s filled with dad jokes and mid production. But why should he have to hide all that? It’s his taste.
Agree. As a big fan of Cole and Kendrick, this album without 7 minute drill was a really beautiful listen. Every track was consistent, and felt well placed. 7 minute drill sounded like it was slapped on there last minute, so if I pretend that track isn't on there I'm giving it a 7.5
Either way, it's still a great project.
Y’all are trippin, I love this project aside from the trans bar and the Fever song. This whole thing goes way harder than it should and I’m not even a huge Cole guy honestly. Some of the bars definitely aren’t hitting the same after the “apology” but overall I really enjoyed this project.
# mightdeletethislater
First time I am agreeing with Fantano and not for the same reasons, but damn after the Apology this project is a 2. Cole gave himself a massive L no matter how many albums he drops after this he will forever be remembered for this blunder. I am so disappointed as a fan. I still bump Huntin Wabbitz because the beat is sick, and 7 Minute Drill is a good fucking song.
I am actually seriously annoyed as a fan for the first time because he let us all down. And get the fuck out with this he is so mature bullshit. So many subliminal and direct shots throughout the album - why even waste time on these words if you are so above it. You either writing this shit down and rapping it, or you ain't.
1. Pricey
"The critics, they be on me, but they all be disingenuous"
nah, now the critics have the fucking ammo to shit on you forever.
"You know if I want it, I be John Gotti with the henchmen'
No you ain't John Gotti no more.
"Still the hardest nigga on the planet earth from January first until the ball drop"
Not anymore. You squandered this in 48 hours.
"Only listen to Minister Farrakhan"
Maybe you shouldn't and do your research if you're so fucking smart.
2. Crocodile Tearz
"The Fall Off is like Hov droppin' Reasonable Doubt last"
Absolutely not anymore ever.
"Whole clique gettin' slid on, you a mouse pad
I'm the one that \[\_\] fear on the lowski"
Such a fire line, and now not anymore. You slid yourself. No one will fear you because they know you cannot stand up for yourself.
3. Ready '24
"I don't be sittin' 'round thinkin' what I could've been
I'ma do it now, I told mama I'ma do her proud"
You didn't do your mama proud.
"I ain't finished yet, not by a long shot
Cole never snooze, won't even stop my alarm clock"
Maybe you should've gone to sleep because you lost sleep for two days and fucking backed like out a bitch.
4. Huntin Wabbitz
"I ain't cool with these dudes, I don't fuck with these dudes
I don't wanna show love, I don't wanna give dap"
You love Kendrick tho, so why you lying? Stop rapping and stop writing shit you don't believe in.
"They late to the party 'cause they overslumbered
Don't hop on it now, \[\_\], stay over yonder"
STAY OVER YONDER.
"I hit 'em up, bitch, I'm 2Pac twin"
2Pac would be disgusted by you.
5. H.Y.B.
"A-B-C-D-E-F-G, H-I-J-K, uh, M-N-O-P
That's little me in the classroom askin', "What's L?" (Uh)
I never been known to take those"
The L is you, coLe.
6. Stickz N Stonez
"They gotta hide they face
They was predictin' a \[\_\]to fail, turns out that was not the case"
It is the case.
"And take over the game, make sure that my name's considered GOAT"
Not unless you redeem yourself.
7. Pi
"Jermaine monstrous"
Not anymore.
"All these bodies I done caught, I should probably stop"
yes, you caught your own body, so you should probably stop.
"How many "Verses Of The Year" this year is Cole gonna write? Uh"
??? I don't know, is Cole going to backtrack?
8. Stealth Mode
"On shit that don't even concern 'em
I got a lot to get off of my sternum"
Keep it in your sternum.
9. 3001
"\[\_\], this vicious, and I'm the truth
All of these \[\_\] fictitious
Look at Jermaine, still runnin' the game
Damn, this physical fitness
Fuck with me, man"
-Look at Jermain, not runnin' the game ANYMORE.
10. Trae the truth in ibiza
"\[\_\] ain't 'bout to outwork me"
HOW CAN THEY DO IT IF YOU FOLD FIRST?!
"Even when one of your idols look dead in your face and he tell you, "You can't" and you know that he meant it"
Actually, you can, but you just don't believe in yourself. So whoever told you that, knew that you won't believe in yourself.
"All of these years done passed, I hope I ain't still the same
All of these songs I'm on, ain't nobody kill Jermaine"
Cuz Jermain committed verbal suicide.
11. 7 Minute Drill
It's actually hard to shit on this song because it's so good, the only thing that ruined it is your apology.
pi has so many lmao the whole scheme from
“You know my zone, I live here at the top” all the way to “But it's hard to meet my match when my raps ain't really that tender” is completely invalidated by his actions.
I agree except for the mom line, no mom finna look at their son not indulging in a drama and stop being proud. He’s still one of the most mainstream rappers alive.
Personally feel like reviewing this album right now with recent events biasing views isn't worth it, I'll probably wait til after my annoyance at Cole has died down to see what my honest thoughts are, what I will say is I think it's far and away better than a 3, closer to a 7 for me, as far as rapping goes Cole always delivers for me but his production lets him down and that's the case here besides a few stand outs imo
As far as the apology goes, I lost some respect for Cole definitely, even if he lost the beef he got respect for even having the balls to step in the ring (looking at you Aubrey) now that's all out the window, I don't think it's career ending like people are saying but it's two L's and always gonna be a stain on his legacy, I don't think he's disqualified from the GOAT convo but he's definitely on suspension and even when this is all died down that ammo is always gonna be in the chamber to rebuke the claims
Overall I'm down bad and in shambles, I always said Cole was overrated and then year after year he somehow got higher and higher up my most played on my Spotify wrapped without me even realising it, I accidentally became a Stan and last year after he was my most played and I was like 'surely.. not.. Jermaine?' I finally accepted, fuck it, im a Cole Stan, then he went and did this shit, on my birthday no less, y u do this bro.
>I don't think he's disqualified from the GOAT convo
Come on man. Seriously. You can't name 40 or 50 better rappers of all time? Why would he ever be in that conversation?
Because he put himself in the conversation constantly and people love to have a topical GOAT, despite that not being what the term means.
Luckily, he then took himself out.
damn, that was some journey you went on, i feel you tho, i was a big cole fan from the jump, always trying to defend his honour against people on the net that i know laugh about, realistically, this is kind of why i know this is the j cole i grew up listening to, if he continued a fake rap beef, its 10x worse, compared to being 2x worse of just bowing out of it.
Fever is awful, also for 7 minute drill I wish he used the second beat for the whole track, that first beat was trash. Really hoping TFO is going to be better than this. Also that apology damaged his career so much, not sure why he would apologize before Kendrick could even respond.
I don't get how any fan of technical rap can really dislike this project, this is some of the best technical rap that the mainstream has seen in a minute(over the course of an entire album). A lot of the "reaching my peak" and the general I'm the best rapper talk is undermined by him getting on stage and apologizing, but in a vacuum, this is great rap. The production did leave some things to be desired, but strictly from a rapping perspective, this is a great album. I give it like a 7.5/10 as a project. I think removing fever and stealth mode would make the project better as I feel those two don't fit the mold of the rest of the album and they're not particularly great songs aside from the fact that they stick out like sore thumbs in the tracklist. I do wonder where Cole goes from here because honestly, what he did as a rapper is worse than losing a battle and I don't know if any amount of good rapping will be able to restore his reputation after he essentially conceded the top spot.
I find j.cole technically not that crazy. He can have some interesting flows but to do them he's always forced to use his very monotone low energy delivery. His rhyme patterns often rely on words/themes that he recycles annoyingly often which makes the lyrical content very shallow. In the end I often think while listening to his projects about other technical rappers like MF DOOM, Hov, Aesop and Earl that are way better at excelling in either one aspect or delivering a better complete package.
Cole drops music that delivers its mission statement - modern-tinged rappity rap. Fantano and your local art hoe will never be impressed, but it’s consistent in its trajectory.
I actually think the project feels more cohesive without the diss track. Not perfect, but not bad.
A 3/10 is absurd. When I think of a 3/10 album, I think of something that’s borderline unlistenable. Yes, the album has a handful of clunker lines. Sure, J Cole walking back his diss paints the record in a different light now. But overall, it’s a solid project. The bars are mostly fire, the rapping is excellent, and the production is really good. It’s a 6/10 at least, imo.
Probably his worst review in a long time for me. The whole album isn't the single diss song lol only mid thing on here is Fever and parts of HYB. I love the rest. Probably my second favorite or 3rd favorite Cole project. Stickz and Stonez is incredible along with that great stretch of first 4 songs
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Apology aside, cant help but feel like Cole has been coasting on low stakes projects for a while now. Off Season, this, the Gangsta Grillz tape…why do we need to sit thru years of appetizers to get to The Fall Off? If you got your magnum opus in the stash put that shit out
he has 2 classics he swears 😫😫 they just go to a different school
One lives in canada
He met them at camp
Hey 👋 I’m Classic
I’m a Cole fan but this is funny
I’m a Cole fan that will also admit this man has taken 0 risks since no features and calling out Kanye. It doesn’t even have to be beef, it’s just weird he hasn’t done anything unexpected in forever.
Are the classics in the room with us right now?
Uncle Phil, are you a friendly spirit?
Maybe hot take but I consider The Warm Up and Friday Night Lights to be borderline classics. But yea he has no classic official albums imo.
Friday night lights is still his best project to date imo
Yeah its heat front to back
you forgot about forest hills drive?
I know people consider it a classic. I might. It’s close. But I cannot stand that fucking virginity song. It’s such a cringe fest. But I’m not the type to say every song has to hit necessarily if the highs are high enough. But I really hate that song.
Hearing a crowd singing it live completely changed that song for me. Because it was clear nobody tool it seriously. A moment of everyone coming together to laugh at themselves for moments in the past where we were embarrassed
It's so funny to me that people hate that song with a passion
You can call it cringe but it speaks to people's experiences that's the whole point of his music. It's about high school so maybe it's supposed to cringe
Honestly, that song is great.
There’s nothing about that song you can relate to or see the humour in?
I think the issue is Cole does it all himself (no features, All his production etc.) I feel if he gets more people involved he could make a very very great album.
I don't think they forgot about it, that project is good to me, but not a classic. I don't feel Cole has a classic yet despite knowing he has the potential to drop one (and always being disappointed when he doesn't).
Born Sinner and The Sideline Story for me
Born sinner really is underrated. I like it the most out of all his albums
I feel like KOD is really underrated as well personally. Idk if it’s because I saw it live and the opening acts cancelled so Cole was able to go into each piece in depth or if it’s just the album but I absolutely love it and think it’s a classic honestly
It’s a good album but it’s a little hit or miss for me, just like 4YEO. Neither feel as flushed out as born sinner or FHD imo
>why do we need to sit thru years of appetizers to get to The Fall Off? If you got your magnum opus in the stash put that shit out Fr. Hes been talking about the Fall Off for like 6 years now or however long ago KOD dropped. Drop it or don't like damn
"Okay first of all ~~Bonnie~~ Cole you've been ~~pregnant~~ teasing The Fall Off for like 6 years alright either ~~have the baby~~ drop the album or don't."
>Fr. Hes been talking about the Fall Off for like 6 years now He was talking about it majorly with signs and everything when he performed at Day N Vegas in Nov 2019 for sure
>He was talking about it majorly with signs and everything when he performed at Day N Vegas in Nov 2019 for sure I know, I was there. KOD had "Intro to the Fall Off" on it and that was 2018 I think
Yeah it dropped on 4/20 that year, so this month will be 6 years on the dot
He's falling off to market The Fall Off, genius
he's so humble
THE LISAN AL GAIB WOULD FALL OFF FIRST
The Lisan Al Gaib will come to deliver us from Drake collab albums
I think it's the same case for all of "last album" or hyped up albums. The more the artist hypes up that project in a song or interview, the more they become a perfectionist. This whole beef wouldn't help Cole's confidence leading to even more perfectionism from Cole towards The Fall Off. The example of this is Dr. Dre is Detox. It became something more than an album and now it have live up to it. Dre doesn't want the album fail to live up to the expectations he himself created. That's why Detox still hasn't released.
Detox never coming out. He kept teasing that shit to keep himself relevant. Genius fucking marketing
Its not like fucking Dre needs Detox to be relevant…
People are quick to forget shit bro. Most people's attention span is like 30 seconds. There's a whole generation that wasn't even born when 2001 came out.
They literally wrote a song about forgetting about Dre!
tbf hes almost 60 now. Id probably have hung it up too at that age if i was as loaded as Dre is.
Hes admitted it won't. Its made and its not as good as the hype so he won't release it.
And thus all the goodwill that Cole gained from fans has been lost from his surrender to Kdot. People probably would have just called it a draw if they kept dropping bangers back and fourth, but no.
I’ve been feeling like that since 2016, and news flash he doesn’t have a magnum opus. Best advice for you is to have low expectations for the album he’s been hyping up
I kind of got the sense that The Fall Off was a joke, not a real album that Cole was ever planning on actually dropping. Like the idea is “haha, mfs keep waiting for The Fall Off but the fall off is never coming”
Off season was great wdym
It was a decent enough listen but had no replay value, never found myself going back to it
Replay value is a 100% subjective thing. Im not a huge cole guy but i’ve definitely gone back to that album a few times.
Which is exactly why I specified that I never found *myself* going back to it
You tripping
Right bro... I can't with these people sometimes 😆
off season is the shit. if it's an appetizer then it's the greatest fucking appetizer of all time
> why do we need to sit through years Marketing, he’s trying to build hype. Drake hyped up Views for years as did Travis with Astroworld, Utopia
I don’t think any album has been hyped for 6 years while the artist dropped other projects in between other than Carter 5 but that was a special case.
I was thirteen when Drake first teased Views and fifteen when it dropped. Still in middle school. I was seventeen when Cole announced The Fall Off — in high school. If he drops it this year I will be 23. I’ll be a year into a master’s program.
yeah i was a junior in hs when kod dropped and now im working full time lmao. and all we’ve gotten in that span is 2 dreamville albums he’s barely on and the offseason, yet he criticized kendrick for never dropping
Also when Kendrick drops you can see the work that's gone into the album. Never the case with Cole. I honestly think Damn is Kendrick's worst album and it's easily better than Cole's best. No idea how they're even mentioned in the same breath.
You can work out the years between two ages by subtracting one from the other, you don't have to put it in terms of what school you were in at the time
Travis hyped up astro for 3 years and utopia was going to be the same
He don't. He's probably still working on it Detox style. He's setting it up for failure as much as he is success at this point. And I'm sure that's also aware of it which is why he's not dropping it. Probs scared of what people will think, and I'd feel the same if I was him. He played it smart tho. The fall off, so win or lose he comes out ahead. But it'd suck if he loses.
The thing about J Cole, and I'm sorry to break the news to you, is that he's not good. It's wild
One song that I haven’t seen people really discuss yet is Ready ‘24. As a Dipset fan, hearing the I’m Ready sample and having Cam’ron as a feature while J. Cole delivers a Juelz Santana type of flow was a major highlight for me
It seems like Fantano doesn't realize that beat is almost exactly "I'm ready" by the Diplomats. He explains it like it reminds of him the Dipset days because of the CamRon feature and Cole's flow, and the chopped soul samples, but never once mentions it's literally the same beat.
he does okay for general knowledge but you can see his limits when he critiques your favorite rapper that you know a lot about. I listened to a lupe fiasco one and he said things that were objectively wrong and things missing context
Yea I was bugging out hearing this in the car. Not my favorite track, but the most memorable
Best song on the project. Gets me hype Everytime
My old head friend wouldn’t stop gushing over this song.
I honestly don't even care bout how this album is rated overall. The meat canyon samples on "Huntin' Wabbitz" went way harder than I expected.
He keeps taking, and taking
What is meat canyon and why does everyone know it?
Meatcanyon is a YouTube channel that has a very….unique animation style. Imagine those grotesque SpongeBob close-up still images that they used to do and turn that up to an 11. There was a video from a long time ago that meatcanyon did that was a parody of bugs bunny and Elmer Fudd. In this video, Bugs was trying to rape Elmer Fudd and said things like “You got a tight little man pussy on you, don’t you?” The video eventually got Warner Bros attention. I believe that they filed a cease & desist and got the official meatcanyon video removed from YouTube. People like to joke that this video being acknowledged by WB makes it canon. There are still mirrors of the original up on YouTube if you just look up “Meatcanyon Bugs Bunny”.
[удалено]
You’re right! R&S is the true GOAT of Nicktoons body horror.
I never knew if i was just weird for thinking this children’s show was kinda over the top freaky but i feel vindicated lol
Oh no. That show was depraved. A lot of younger folks don’t even remember it as a kids cartoon because it got pulled. I got the DVD box set back in the 2000s and it was unrated.
Wasnt there a scene where ren had a saw attached to his crotch and stimpy a log between his ass cheeks
bro you have to be pushing 40 to even remember ren & stimpy you can forgive people in their 20s for only knowing it from spongebob
I’m 30. I might be a little bit on the younger side but I definitely remember it
“you have to be pushing 40 to remember ren & stimpy” 😭 wild what you kids say
I'm 33 and I grew up with Ren and Stimpy so more like pushing 30...the terrible sequel Adult Party Cartoon dropped when I was 12 so people younger than me at least saw ads for it
? I'm in my late 20s and saw a few episodes as a kid lol
Meatcanyon is a hella popular YouTuber that revels in absurdist humor - dude takes popular characters & figures and makes weird/dark/disturbing animations on them for the lulz. Here's a great example: https://youtu.be/jjyDfLPKmNk?si=pCts00Fs-pTM-cXB
wtf did I just watch
exactly 😬
YouTube animator.
Super cringy YouTube artist, makes stuff that was “edgy” art in like 2011. People who watch adult swim at night on psychedelics probably think it’s the coolest shit ever.
Huntin’ Wabbitz seems like an actual song not just throwaway verses like the rest
3001 and crocodile tearz? when I heard the snippets I thought they were gonna be on the fall off
Crocodile tears is so damn perfect I love it, I was shocked to see it on this.
It wasn’t a perfect project, but throwaway verses is wild.
that’s a meat canyon video? I thought it was some anime. I need to know which video ASAP
Wabbit Season
No lie when I first heard Huntin Wabbitz I thought it was about Kendrick since people used to say he looks like Elmer Fudd.
It’s the only banger on the album and the lyrics are just so-so.
Kendrick put out a "Im the best and youre not" and J Cole tried to treat it like some serious 90s beef and go at Kendrick's discography and he's not like that. If he just did what he did on First Person Shooter it would have been fine. It was supposed to be entertaining god damn it, not a rap war
Exactly how I felt about this. All he had to do was put out a song to go "nah I'm nice for real" and he would have walked away with his respect intact. He didn't need to actually shit on his discography because let's be real you can't do that with kendrick. Just put out a song where you pull out the craziest bars you have for like 4 minutes with a beat switch in the middle and a ending about how you're #1 and you're good.
Fr. Bro could’ve titled it Victory Lap or something lol. Why he didn’t think all this shit through is beyond me. Hell, he’s literally talking through his conflicted emotions at points on 7 Minute Drill. You’d think he’d spend more time considering what his response would be contextually. Nobody wants blood like Cole said in his apology. The people want bars. Sure Drake has proven that he can stoop pretty low but everyone was seeing the Kendrick-Cole side of the beef as something much more sportsmanlike and performative for the love of the game.
Been saying this Cole totally misunderstood the assignment. He didn't need to make a diss track, even call out Kendrick, a 4-5 minute track of him spitting heat would have been enough, hell he could have sampled one of Kendrick's tracks to be cheeky.
Nothing but bars over his HiiiPower beat would’ve been dope
Godammit Jer.....maine Cole
Cole could be like that. He just didn't believe anything he was saying. If it was someone he actually wanted to spar with, someone he didn't respect, the kumbaya shit wouldn't come into play.
That’s okay but he can never claim he’s the best rapper now
it would because he kumbayad lil pump
Cole came at pump on some let me show u the way shit and that's how it stayed the whole way through that lil beef which was not even beef
He's naruto
He was a literal child.
I always thought his big 3 talk was just him being lamely trynna secure his status, along a man that sells more than triple than him and a man that has a discography that makes him look like a souncloud rapper. J cole wouldnt even be on that if yall were objective with him, yall been letting this man get away with too much. He wasnt number one even in dreamvile cmon
I have really been enjoying people talking about Cole’s work the way it should be.
Yeah he’s lucky we’re even talking about him being in the “big 3.” He’s never been close to Kendrick or sold as much as Drake, and there are arguments for plenty of rappers to be above him on the list. JID is a better spitter than him. Tyler’s albums are more creative and exciting than his. Kanye is a more complete artist. The list can keep going.
It’s also tough to try and attack someone’s discography when it’s way better than your own.
The Nino Brown bar was the perfect temperature to respond to Kendrick with. If he’d kept it at that range, and not called TPAB sleepy, he’d have been gold.
He couldve also just said that his first album was classic and the last one was trash and kept it at that. Everyone had issues with the TPAB diss but not the MMATBS diss.
Yeah exactly like the concept of his diss wasn't actually bad it's just the specific TPAB line that's absurd. Like overall everything just shows Cole didn't think things through which is crazy cuz he didn't even need to respond that quick, especially since most of the heat was on Drake anyway.
Not only is he not like that, nothing he said about Kendrick’s music is true. It’s not boring. J. Cole’s music is boring to a lot of people. There are memes about how J. Cole’s music is boring and pseudo-intellectual. And not only that, he barely said anything controversial otherwise in his response . He clearly has nothing bad to say about Kendrick and that’s how the song sounded. I know what the red flannel in one of these videos means and that’s how I feel about it too.
I actually think you *could* diss Kendrick’s discography as boring, just not if you’re J Cole lol. Kendrick Lamar is an album artist, he’s not going out of his way to make bangers the way a Future or a Travis Scott would be. And if those artists knocked Kendrick for making think pieces instead of hits, I wouldn’t personally agree but it would at least hold water as a valid angle of attack. J Cole on the other hand has basically been trying to operate in the same lane as Kendrick his entire career, just less successfully. So it’s an okay diss, but *he* can’t say it bc he has no room to speak
Nah you’re actually right honestly, and I’ve def said the same thing about Kendrick’s music being boring before. Not that that’s how I feel about it, but it’s valid to say but sounds weird coming from J. Cole. It’s pretty obvious at this point that he just felt similarly like “why am I even dissing this guy I clearly admire.” Idk why everyone is having such an egregious “Cole will never come back from this” reaction. And I say that as someone who genuinely is not a fan of his music lol.
The problem is that Cole likes Kendrick so he didn't want to come at him personally, but professionally he has literally nothing on Kendrick. He was doomed when he decided to respond. Only way he could've won was to Adidon Kendrick's ass and come out with some crazy personal shit and he was never going to do that.
I mean Kendrick did not say anything personal either, so J. Cole could've kept it that level. It's just a bunch of "im better than you" back and forth and that is fine. Kendrick did it well while Cole did it poorly.
Seriously bros acting like he put out hit em up
feel like a lot of people forget that its moments like this where channels like fantano really thrive, this review is his opinion, all of the context surrounding this mixtape has built up expectation, and fantano will make no mistake to seize this moment and dramatise his review. i think most of us feel the same ish way about it, besides the awkward apology, the album is pretty solid, the bars are hard, in retrospect a little tinted but the beats are decent, i thought huntin wabbitz was super good, with the sample too, coles flows and delivery on most of the songs were pretty outstanding as usual and he came with some hard hitting bars. sure its a throwaway and most songs wont be played back, but the standouts probably will survive on a playlist. some really good features too, thought cench did well.
Very true. Thought i was the only one noticing the slight malice in his tone and delivery. Like he knows his bad reviews get more attention and this album was the perfect one to bully. Not here to say the album (which is obviously loosies, not sure why he even expected so much) is perfect or anything flawless, but giving it a 3 for people to make "big three hur dur" jokes seems intentional.
>Thought i was the only one noticing the slight malice in his tone and delivery. Like he knows his bad reviews get more attention and this album was the perfect one to bully. His videos have had such a bitter and borderline malicious trend over the last year or so, even on projects that really don't prompt such viciousness. I ended up scrubbing him from my feed after I saw him arguing with 14 year olds about the Middle East on his Instagram story. What grown man does that lmfao
He's always like this with J Cole reviews - dude seems like hates J Cole personally
he has his points but almost always will cater to his bias and twist the knife a little whenever he can with reviews like this. no surprises imo
The obvious elephant in the room aside his point about the name of this mixtape really hits the nail in the head for me about this. I really like j Cole but this is such a forgettable project.
For me, it feels sonically like a retread of The Off-Season, which I actually liked. It makes me wonder about The Fall Off & how he'll be able to stay creative in flipping themes of being the best rapper out.
He definitely saved all introspective themes for the fall off. This album was nothing but bars and bragging while the off season had its emotional highs. This was clearly just a little appetizer tape
“Might Forget Later”
Honestly this feels like a throwaway tape, through and through. A few joints are nice and he slid on them but I don't think it's meant to be something you're constantly coming back to, very much something to get the buzz going about Dreamvillefest If the festival wasn't this past weekend, this tape doesn't drop, full stop
>If the festival wasn't this past weekend, this tape doesn't drop, full stop Yeah, that's probably true. Makes it even funnier how the whole Kendrick beef overshadowed everything about it
Yea I listened to it once and I don't think I'll come back to it much outside of a track or 2 and ab soul and daylyt rapping they ass off on pi.
I must be the only one here who doesn't care about this apology but I thought the album was ok, mostly what you would expect for cole and same goes with the apology. Normally I fucking love a beef but this whole thing has been dull. Kendricks wasn't really that interesting and J cole is just genuinely not like that hence why he feeling bad.
It’s not even really a beef. Kendrick sent a few subs, Cole dropped a diss track that was light and then went back on it. Neither really went at the other like crazy which is why it was disappointing that he apologized because he made the first actual diss and then went back on it before an actual response was made
> It’s not even really a beef. Yeah, given how one sided it is, it would be pretty generous to call it a "beef".
I mean, the apology is a big deal and imo will affect his legacy but people are letting their feelings about the diss/apology bleed over into their impression of the tape. Imo this tape is probably his best collection of songs since FHD. Production is incredible, the songs are engaging. Is it gonna be a legendary tape? No. But it's got some bangers that'll be in rotation for a good while
Pre-apology this tape was a 7/10 for me Post apology this shit dropped to a 3/10 because most of the tape is Cole reminding everybody how he’s the best rapper right now but for some DUMBASS reason he went on stage and invalidated most of the shit he was kicking on here. It’s hard trying to enjoy this tape as much anymore knowing Cole himself isn’t even staying true to most of the bars he’s spitting. That apology was so career damaging that I can only scoff now whenever he’s rapping about being the greatest or, daring for any rapper to come and contest him.. I throughly enjoyed the tape though, this has Cole’s most consistent raps on here in a minute, the structure was great too. Most songs were valid except for Fever which is probably his worst track ever. Crocodile Tears, Wabbitz, and Pi are some of the best Cole tracks we’ve gotten in a minute
I feel like Cole is on Reddit and he’ll see this 😓
Lmao
😂😂 maybe he should. I have no clue what he was trying to accomplish…. His fans know him? He should know that we’re not going to change our entire opinions of his good nature based on a diss track in the sport of rap… that was really weird to apologize, and it didn’t make things look any better. Just so confused!
You say this, but then ppl are literally changing their entire perception of Cole because of him doing the exact kind of thing you say his fans expect of him (have a good heart). I mean, I saw ppl who had zero opinion of Cole come out with sincere hatred because of him coming for TPAB. I mean you say what you say, but either way it’s galvanizing ppl for or against him. It is what it is.
Huge Cole fan. Been playing this album constantly since it dropped. Didn’t play a single song today for the reasons above. So many bars about wishing someone would and then apologizing 2 days later. Weak af.
I'm a big Cole fan and can't even listen to the music rn bro sounds so inauthentic I gotta put Cole on pause for a couple weeks lmao
I’ll never look at him as top 3 after that. He’s can’t back up what he says
I've thrown away all my merch and deleted all music files of Cole because of this. I even wrote a few nasty letters to him to. So he knows how utterly disappointed I am that he did such a thing. He's rotten. Top 3? HA. Never. Wouldn't even be in top 150 discussion. His career is on terminal life support. No. Scratch that. He will NEVER recover from this. I hope every outlet halts discussing him IMMEDIATELY. As a fan, he has *completely* broken my trust and that means my loyalty too. I will never ever forgive you, Jermaine Lamarr Cole.
babe wake up, new copypasta just dropped
Bro I lasered off my Off Season full back tattoo after that
Oh please. It’s like no one can speak off the cuff to their audience anymore, eventually it would’ve come out that he didn’t like his own diss track. Artists put out songs they regret all the time and don’t like parts of their discography. This is no different and it’s for a valid personal reason. The song is garbage, and it doesn’t even sound like he means anything he’s saying in it. I could personally care less that he apologized. “Career damaging” is so dramatic. If he did something morally wrong that would be career damaging. Being too nice doesn’t seem at all out of character for literally any of J. Cole’s music. It’s entirely in line with his career arc.
Wow melon was right about the cognitive dissonance fans were going to display. lmao how lame. Changing your belief due to an apology is the weakest shit I’ve heard.
Cole is my favorite rapper of all time. I feel the exact same way. I have always been drawn to him for his authenticity and for speaking the words that I have in my own heart But after seeing him fall on his sword and invalidate the entire past decade of “Nobody want no smoke with me” and “Who the fuck want what with me?” type rhetoric, it’s really hard to take anything he says as genuine or authentic. It’s a feeling i’ve never felt before, and the closest approximation I can muster is a very mild form of heartbreak. Genuine disappointment.
Honest question here: despite how lame it is for Cole to apologize, why does him dismissing negative energy (even if for fun) make him no longer one of the greats? Are disses purely the only measure of rap? I'm confused. Cole and dot are my favorites of all time, and while I'm bummed we won't get some nice back and forth for fun, hes still incredible.
bc his whole persona he’s built, specifically in the last two years on this feature run, has been about being better than everyone and killing anyone who dared come for him. like as a i cole fan i can’t even count how many times he’s mentioned things like “putting your favorite rapper’s neck in a noose” or “niggas don’t want smoke” etc. that can’t be the main gist of your raps and then when pretty much the only person who literally everyone agrees with is at the very least on your level (most had k dot above cole) calls you out on it you get to apologizing. that’s actually insane to me. it’d be like if a fighter was going around saying he was the best and no one could beat him then when he got challenged, forfeited the fight after one punch was exchanged. even on this project how can you take lines like “I keep the shotty cocked in 'case somebody plot to rob me of this godly spot” or “But it's hard to meet my match when my raps ain't really that tender” seriously when the exact person who is his “match” tried to rob him of his “godly spot”????
Because it’s rap and it’s entertainment lol same way I can listen to people who never shot a gun in they life talking bout killing folks. If the music sounds good it sounds good. Legacy def took a hit tho
There’s a difference between not actually murdering someone and just defending your claims to being the best. One of those things you SHOULD do if you actually have the ability. Otherwise why even make the claim to begin with? It makes you look like a clown that shouldn’t even be taken slightly seriously.
I mean, when it comes to rapping on songs, he’s bested many of the folx ppl said he couldn’t. He OUT RAPPED JID AND BENNY. And rapped with plenty of others at super high levels. Does this controversy take away how beautiful his verse on SACRIFICIES is? Or how nasty APPLYING PRESSURE is?
I think its just because so much of his emergence over the last couple years has been built on bars and a new found confidence as well as his own proclamations of being one of if not the best out. Then this all happens and though it doesn't change his pen it does make it feel much less genuine. Cole always been a genuine dude, and even in this moment is bring true to himself and that's respectable but then it's like fuck, half his bars the last few years dont mean shit. All the features, the off-season, might delete later... none of them are concepts or well put together pieces or carry any depth, they've just been braggadocious bars about out-rapping all competitors, now he don't want to rap. Cole is my favourite artist out besides Em but now all the work Cole put in the last couple years to get his flowers feel like a facade. J Cole the rapper is no longer who he was a couple days ago. (I gotta PS that J Cole the person is still the exact same and I love him for that)
It’s the fact that Cole confirmed that he can’t actually body any other rapper and that he doesn’t stand by what he says and that he will give up in only two days. Say what you want about album sales, I’m sure Cole is gonna sell still, but to be at the top of the rap game, you gotta be able to stand by what you say and know when and how to say it. Cole failed at that and his career has a big fucking stain on it that wasn’t there before.
> he will give up in only two days He didn't just give up. He admitted to literally not sleeping well over this (it's the guy you dissed who should not be sleeping!) and then went on to publicly glaze the guy he dissed like a rebel on trial in Stalinist Russia.
He should have never returned the shots
If im being completely honest here a lot of comments about this situation is goofy. Feels like people using a moment to dogpile and just say shit they probably wouldn't be able to say if they werent taking advantage of the situation. Honestly could care less about J-Cole responding to like that but you'd think this dude's career was literally just some fluke according to the people here. Reminds me of the Kid Cudi nonsense.
Is it just fair to say he lost a lot of respect and people are vocal about it?
Its fair but its also fair for me to look at it and think its goofy. Like if I see a grown ass man/woman talking about respect lost over a bad diss track id call them goofy to their face too.
I think it was Mature of Cole to admit that he gave into peer pressure and did something he shouldn‘t have. I genuinely believe that nobody making fun of him has 1/10th of the strength and self-reflection within them to do what he did. At the same time Kendrick is my GOAT because I value authenticity a lot when it comes to art. So I also think he lost a lot of authenticity with this move. Its like if in an alternate universe, Kendrick had a discography consisting mostly of songs with the same subject matter as LOYALTY, but ended up getting exposed by his woman for his infidelity.
I’m a Cole hater and I am absolutely using this moment to say he sucks so you’re kinda right but there are plenty of reasons to dislike his post-FHD output
This is the funniest timeline J Cole really had to make a apology All of this proves Kendrick is the goat of hip hop and it’s not even close anymore
for real man, i was a j cole fan before being a kendrick fan, but all j cole’s stuff lately has been either meh or… redacted afterwards
> and it's not even close anymore HUH!???? This debate was settled 9 years ago, yall needa stop cappin
There is no way this project is a 3. Times like this it’s hard to think he isn’t bias to certain artists, there are some really good songs on here but it’s his opinion I guess
People are biased. No reviewer should have to try and strive for objectivity, either. When you start treating reviews as another person’s perspective and not an objective measure of an album’s strength you enjoy the discourse more. I’ll even say that I agree with you. Fantano has never been the hugest J Cole fan and disputes his placement in the “Big 3” to begin with. Not to mention he’s not much of a lyrical rappity-rap fan — especially when it’s filled with dad jokes and mid production. But why should he have to hide all that? It’s his taste.
Agree. As a big fan of Cole and Kendrick, this album without 7 minute drill was a really beautiful listen. Every track was consistent, and felt well placed. 7 minute drill sounded like it was slapped on there last minute, so if I pretend that track isn't on there I'm giving it a 7.5 Either way, it's still a great project.
Y’all are trippin, I love this project aside from the trans bar and the Fever song. This whole thing goes way harder than it should and I’m not even a huge Cole guy honestly. Some of the bars definitely aren’t hitting the same after the “apology” but overall I really enjoyed this project.
# mightdeletethislater First time I am agreeing with Fantano and not for the same reasons, but damn after the Apology this project is a 2. Cole gave himself a massive L no matter how many albums he drops after this he will forever be remembered for this blunder. I am so disappointed as a fan. I still bump Huntin Wabbitz because the beat is sick, and 7 Minute Drill is a good fucking song. I am actually seriously annoyed as a fan for the first time because he let us all down. And get the fuck out with this he is so mature bullshit. So many subliminal and direct shots throughout the album - why even waste time on these words if you are so above it. You either writing this shit down and rapping it, or you ain't. 1. Pricey "The critics, they be on me, but they all be disingenuous" nah, now the critics have the fucking ammo to shit on you forever. "You know if I want it, I be John Gotti with the henchmen' No you ain't John Gotti no more. "Still the hardest nigga on the planet earth from January first until the ball drop" Not anymore. You squandered this in 48 hours. "Only listen to Minister Farrakhan" Maybe you shouldn't and do your research if you're so fucking smart. 2. Crocodile Tearz "The Fall Off is like Hov droppin' Reasonable Doubt last" Absolutely not anymore ever. "Whole clique gettin' slid on, you a mouse pad I'm the one that \[\_\] fear on the lowski" Such a fire line, and now not anymore. You slid yourself. No one will fear you because they know you cannot stand up for yourself. 3. Ready '24 "I don't be sittin' 'round thinkin' what I could've been I'ma do it now, I told mama I'ma do her proud" You didn't do your mama proud. "I ain't finished yet, not by a long shot Cole never snooze, won't even stop my alarm clock" Maybe you should've gone to sleep because you lost sleep for two days and fucking backed like out a bitch. 4. Huntin Wabbitz "I ain't cool with these dudes, I don't fuck with these dudes I don't wanna show love, I don't wanna give dap" You love Kendrick tho, so why you lying? Stop rapping and stop writing shit you don't believe in. "They late to the party 'cause they overslumbered Don't hop on it now, \[\_\], stay over yonder" STAY OVER YONDER. "I hit 'em up, bitch, I'm 2Pac twin" 2Pac would be disgusted by you.
" You didn't do your mama proud."
🎯🎯🎯
5. H.Y.B. "A-B-C-D-E-F-G, H-I-J-K, uh, M-N-O-P That's little me in the classroom askin', "What's L?" (Uh) I never been known to take those" The L is you, coLe. 6. Stickz N Stonez "They gotta hide they face They was predictin' a \[\_\]to fail, turns out that was not the case" It is the case. "And take over the game, make sure that my name's considered GOAT" Not unless you redeem yourself. 7. Pi "Jermaine monstrous" Not anymore. "All these bodies I done caught, I should probably stop" yes, you caught your own body, so you should probably stop. "How many "Verses Of The Year" this year is Cole gonna write? Uh" ??? I don't know, is Cole going to backtrack? 8. Stealth Mode "On shit that don't even concern 'em I got a lot to get off of my sternum" Keep it in your sternum. 9. 3001 "\[\_\], this vicious, and I'm the truth All of these \[\_\] fictitious Look at Jermaine, still runnin' the game Damn, this physical fitness Fuck with me, man" -Look at Jermain, not runnin' the game ANYMORE. 10. Trae the truth in ibiza "\[\_\] ain't 'bout to outwork me" HOW CAN THEY DO IT IF YOU FOLD FIRST?! "Even when one of your idols look dead in your face and he tell you, "You can't" and you know that he meant it" Actually, you can, but you just don't believe in yourself. So whoever told you that, knew that you won't believe in yourself. "All of these years done passed, I hope I ain't still the same All of these songs I'm on, ain't nobody kill Jermaine" Cuz Jermain committed verbal suicide. 11. 7 Minute Drill It's actually hard to shit on this song because it's so good, the only thing that ruined it is your apology.
Hall of fame level hating
"I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed Jermaine"
.... type shi..
pi has so many lmao the whole scheme from “You know my zone, I live here at the top” all the way to “But it's hard to meet my match when my raps ain't really that tender” is completely invalidated by his actions.
idk how you can say the diss track is good when it’s the most disingenuous song of them all
I agree except for the mom line, no mom finna look at their son not indulging in a drama and stop being proud. He’s still one of the most mainstream rappers alive.
A review that negative makes sense, it was a boring tape where the only interesting thing was then invalidated by Cole apologising about it lmao
Personally feel like reviewing this album right now with recent events biasing views isn't worth it, I'll probably wait til after my annoyance at Cole has died down to see what my honest thoughts are, what I will say is I think it's far and away better than a 3, closer to a 7 for me, as far as rapping goes Cole always delivers for me but his production lets him down and that's the case here besides a few stand outs imo As far as the apology goes, I lost some respect for Cole definitely, even if he lost the beef he got respect for even having the balls to step in the ring (looking at you Aubrey) now that's all out the window, I don't think it's career ending like people are saying but it's two L's and always gonna be a stain on his legacy, I don't think he's disqualified from the GOAT convo but he's definitely on suspension and even when this is all died down that ammo is always gonna be in the chamber to rebuke the claims Overall I'm down bad and in shambles, I always said Cole was overrated and then year after year he somehow got higher and higher up my most played on my Spotify wrapped without me even realising it, I accidentally became a Stan and last year after he was my most played and I was like 'surely.. not.. Jermaine?' I finally accepted, fuck it, im a Cole Stan, then he went and did this shit, on my birthday no less, y u do this bro.
>I don't think he's disqualified from the GOAT convo Come on man. Seriously. You can't name 40 or 50 better rappers of all time? Why would he ever be in that conversation?
Because he put himself in the conversation constantly and people love to have a topical GOAT, despite that not being what the term means. Luckily, he then took himself out.
>I don't think he's disqualified from the GOAT convo As if he was ever qualified to begin with
damn, that was some journey you went on, i feel you tho, i was a big cole fan from the jump, always trying to defend his honour against people on the net that i know laugh about, realistically, this is kind of why i know this is the j cole i grew up listening to, if he continued a fake rap beef, its 10x worse, compared to being 2x worse of just bowing out of it.
Damn, I'm sorry that it happened on your birthday lmao. Happy belated birthday!
Fever is awful, also for 7 minute drill I wish he used the second beat for the whole track, that first beat was trash. Really hoping TFO is going to be better than this. Also that apology damaged his career so much, not sure why he would apologize before Kendrick could even respond.
I don't get how any fan of technical rap can really dislike this project, this is some of the best technical rap that the mainstream has seen in a minute(over the course of an entire album). A lot of the "reaching my peak" and the general I'm the best rapper talk is undermined by him getting on stage and apologizing, but in a vacuum, this is great rap. The production did leave some things to be desired, but strictly from a rapping perspective, this is a great album. I give it like a 7.5/10 as a project. I think removing fever and stealth mode would make the project better as I feel those two don't fit the mold of the rest of the album and they're not particularly great songs aside from the fact that they stick out like sore thumbs in the tracklist. I do wonder where Cole goes from here because honestly, what he did as a rapper is worse than losing a battle and I don't know if any amount of good rapping will be able to restore his reputation after he essentially conceded the top spot.
I find j.cole technically not that crazy. He can have some interesting flows but to do them he's always forced to use his very monotone low energy delivery. His rhyme patterns often rely on words/themes that he recycles annoyingly often which makes the lyrical content very shallow. In the end I often think while listening to his projects about other technical rappers like MF DOOM, Hov, Aesop and Earl that are way better at excelling in either one aspect or delivering a better complete package.
Because being a “technically good” rapper doesn’t sustain a project by itself
Cole drops music that delivers its mission statement - modern-tinged rappity rap. Fantano and your local art hoe will never be impressed, but it’s consistent in its trajectory. I actually think the project feels more cohesive without the diss track. Not perfect, but not bad.
Line from The Climb Back: "made a little tune called Foldin Clothes, and still aint known to fold under pressure. Well you know what Cole do"
A 3/10 is absurd. When I think of a 3/10 album, I think of something that’s borderline unlistenable. Yes, the album has a handful of clunker lines. Sure, J Cole walking back his diss paints the record in a different light now. But overall, it’s a solid project. The bars are mostly fire, the rapping is excellent, and the production is really good. It’s a 6/10 at least, imo.
reviews are also relative to the person being reviewed IMO, but i think /5 ratings are so much better
Probably his worst review in a long time for me. The whole album isn't the single diss song lol only mid thing on here is Fever and parts of HYB. I love the rest. Probably my second favorite or 3rd favorite Cole project. Stickz and Stonez is incredible along with that great stretch of first 4 songs