Diverse Hip Hop

Here we go again, this time I’m (Quake) going to review J. Cole’s debut album Cole World: The Slideline Story, a lot of people have been anticipating this album for ages and now we finally get to hear it. Did it live up to all the hype? find out what I got to say about it after the jump.

1. “Intro” – This track pretty much starts out the album with J. Cole starting to tell the story on the day he got signed, with a piano played beat and then J. Cole spits a quick verse. I would like to point out listen to it closely too he says something that shocks me.

2. – “Dollar And A Dream III” – If your familiar with Cole’s mixtapes then you would know on his former mixtapes he has follow ups to this track. Out of all of them I think this one is the better one and I’m glad it made the album cut, I love the production it’s simple and yet very dope. Cole’s spitting the usual RAW lyrics that I love, the lyrics about life and how people struggle.

3. – “Can’t Get Enough” feat. Trey Songz – This track is the 2nd single from the album and it was a perfect choice too. Trey Songz killed the hook as he usually does on every track he’s on, the production is amazing because it isn’t that club type of music that I get sick and tired of. It has more of a island type of beat and the music video just brought me back to the early 2000′s on how music videos use to be. Cole does this thing on the verses as well.

4. – “Lights Please” – For those that follow J. Cole know that this is a mixtape track that he released on the “The Warm Up” awhile back. Some people might not like that he’s using mixtape cuts for his debut album but I think it’s a good thing, if the track is very dope and everybody liked it then why not add it to your album?. If it’s that hot then I would add it as well and I’m glad J. Cole caught on to that. The track is amazing overall and the subject matter is what really made me like the track, he’s pretty much saying he’s trying to help the girl open up her eyes on how messed up the world is but the girl just keeps on wanting to have Sex and then J. Cole is blinded by it. Which is a dope subject to rap about because it’s true Sex can blind you easily haha.

6. – “Sideline Story” – Another story that is dope but I guess since I didn’t like the production this track didn’t stand out to me, but it’s alright nonetheless.

7. “Mr. Nice Watch” feat. Jay-Z – J. Cole does a track with his mentor and the guy that signed him? how can that go wrong? it can’t and it didn’t. Not only is the beat blazing hot but the verses and hook is on point. J. Cole shows that he can rap bar for bar with Jay and well when Jay-Z gets on its amazing. I’m not the biggest fan of Jay but he really did his thing on this track some of the lines he spit were crazy. Most of the regular people didn’t understand the bars which makes Jay an amazing MC. I like how Jay even took shots at Weezy and it took people forever to find out, smart move Hov.

8. – “Cole World” – This track just makes me want to run and jump, the beat is uptempo which makes it a club scene type of track. Then when the hook comes and slows down which caught my attention, hook is on point, Cole’s verse’s never disappoint.

9. – “In The Morning” feat. Drake – Another mixtape track that landed on Cole’s album, that’s fine with me as long as the track is hot. This one is smooth and makes me want to hit it in the morning more often. The production makes the track smooth and not one of those straight up love tracks if you get what I’m saying. Drake does his thing on this track with his own little twist to the beat as usual.

10. – “Lost Ones” – Now there is a lot of history on this track, Cole had kept this track to himself for awhile. He shot a video for this track awhile back and never dropped the video or track, then hackers eventually got to the unmastered version of the track but that didn’t effect Cole. He still decided to put the track on his album and for that I give him so much respect because of how smart he is. Most artists need to do the same and not throw away their good tracks even if the track leaked. If the track is hot and people like it then make sure you add it to your album even if it did leak. Now that I’m done getting off topic I would like to say that this track is amazing because it touches subjects that a lot of people can relate to. Things like Teenage Pregnancy, I like how Cole also split his verses. By that I mean he made the 1st verse be the guy, 2nd verse be the girl and 3rd verse be the third person view of the situation which makes him a dope MC.

11. – “Nobody’s Perfect” feat. Missy Elliott – This is another track that stood out, the production is amazing, I love how it stops then bangs like crazy. Of course Cole’s verse’s are dope but the real reason this track is amazing is Missy Elliott we haven’t heard of her in awhile. When I saw her as a feature I was excited but was worried because I thought she might of lost her music touch. But she proved me wrong and killed the hook I’m glad she landed on the track and album.

12. - “Never Told” – Another subject about how guys smash girls left and right and keep repeating. I like the subject matter but when u keep rapping about it, it gets boring. The track is amazing nonetheless and shows the RAW side of Cole. Production is also on point.

13. – “Rise And Shine” – I like the way this track starts out with Jay-Z saying he will find that one guy to sign, and well J. Cole is that guy. The production is dope as hell and I like the sample used, J. Cole use’s those fast rapping skills on this track and the hook is okay. I’ve heard it used by rappers before I wish he would have used something else but other then that is a good solid track.

14. – “God’s Gift” – I really liked the production on this track, the hook too, but this track didn’t really stand out to me. I don’t know maybe it will grow on me eventually, but as for now, nothing special to me, nice story once again.

15. – “Breakdown” – I don’t have much to say for this track, it’s alright, didn’t stand out to me.

16. – “Work Out” (Bonus) – This track was released as the 1st offering off the album. I have no clue why the 1st Single off the album landed as a Bonus Track on the album but I guess only Cole can answer that question. The track is dope, I liked it overall.

17. – “Who Dat” (iTunes Bonus) – This got released over 1 year ago, but the track pretty much speaks for itself. This track GOT THAT FLAME!, hook is crazy, verse’s are ill, and that’s all it is.

18. – “Daddy’s Little Girl” (iTunes Bonus) – Another subject matter on a girl and how she is selling her body for money. Too much of these type of tracks but it’s a good message so I’m alright with it. The track wasn’t that good to me.

Now that I’m done writing this huge album review I want to give an overall of what I thought of the album. The album is amazing, simple as that, and it’s like a book because it tells a story which is hard to find in an album. I didn’t find that much flaws on this album and it almost made me think of 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin. To me that’s a good thing because I think Get Rich didn’t have not 1 bad track on the album, and that’s sort of the same thing with Cole’s debut album. The only bad thing is he won’t sell that much which sucks because I want rappers that rap about something that actually matter to sell more. Anyways forget that, here’s my score for the album, possibly the highest score I’ve ever given an album in AWHILE.

9.5 out of 10