It’s one thing to review an album that’s popular but to review one that you have had enough time to sit down and ponder what to say is just as conflicting. You think you’ll know what to say when the time comes to start writing, but then you find yourself overwhelmed with a mixture of emotions. This is what I felt when approaching to write about 4 Your Eyez Only by J.Cole. One of the greatest albums released in my time. Since this album came out in 2016, I was a sophomore in high school when I first heard it. Now this may just be the bias in me but I've never been able to resonate with an entire album emotionally and mentally the way I have with this one. Unlike your conventional rapper, J.Cole always talks about what others are afraid to. He is goated on so many levels and if he can grasp the attention of a 16 year old bookworm growing up in an urban community, then I imagine this album to have impacted many. Cole tackles the fragility of existing as a black man through various songs while expounding on contingencies as one goes through the motions of life.
Now the album was dropped alongside a documentary that was released on Tidal. In this documentary, the Raleigh native rapper states “you’re never guaranteed to be this high again. And while I’m here, let me use this opportunity to say the realest [sh*t] I’ve ever said.” (https://www.xxlmag.com/today-in-hip-hop-j-cole-drops-4-your-eyez-only-album/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral). Referring to the most pivotal moment in his career, he chose the right time to share his truths and views on the economic disenfranchisement of blacks. In the album-titled song “4 your eyez only,” Cole uses Jazz instrumentals with drums to narrate the story of his deceased friend who is known as “James” for confidential purposes. As the story unfolds, it is apparent that this song was addressed to the daughter of his friend. Throughout the album, selling drugs is illustrated as the only means to escape poverty. However, poverty wasn’t the only thing worth escaping from on this album. J. Cole raps about people dying on the daily and even goes so far to add the effect of funeral bells on “For whom the bell tolls.” It seems that there are two outcomes for those living in poverty. One being to die to gun violence or never make it out. We know this isn’t 100% true because there are a few exceptions, J.Cole is a prime example of one of them. But for the rest of us who are not as lyrically inclined or don’t exhibit any talents that's desired by Hollywood, that life is a reality. The mixture of Jazz and trap drums is what makes this album so inviting as well as Cole’s poetic lyricism. That man sure does know what he’s doing.
Now the majority of this album is focused on this theme but J.Cole also sings about love and fatherhood, which changes his perspective of life, on a few tracks. The parallels of life and finding love to struggling to survive is the conveying message that captured me as a 16 year old. As I navigated through life as a teenager, I found myself making memories with friends, trying to find love, and trying to escape the violence that surrounded me. Hearing about someone dying wasn't a foreign thing but listening to this album made me aware that I wasn’t alone and that others were swimming in the same water. 4 Your Eyez Only, unveils the realities thats tied to growing up in an environment that’s automatically against you. In its essence, this album gives a voice to the voiceless.
