However, it is the most often effective narrative in hip-hop, and Cole’s definitely hoping to channel the Tupac and/or Biggie Smalls he knows lurks within him. In terms of originality, it’s the least original narrative in rap music. Told from the perspective of one of Cole’s friends (ostensibly the one in “’03 Adolescence” who didn’t make it out of the trap), the story details how he sold drugs in hopes of providing his daughter and wife with a better life. What’s interesting about Eyez is that it is, for all intents and purposes, a concept album. Mileage may vary, but to me it’s quite good. And on 4 Your Eyez Only Cole produces another heavily refined, workman-like album with lofty ambitions, and an even bigger payoff. It wasn’t a masterpiece, but it definitely was a capital-s Statement. It was far from perfect, but it produced just enough goodness to warrant praise. Cole project that, at least to me, fully illuminated Cole’s potential and ambition. But that doesn’t necessarily make him a good rapper, and time after time Cole has proven himself to be a deft, if not inspiring, lyricist.
In other words, he’s everything the old heads wanted hip-hop to inspire. He’s the kind of person who gets personally offended whenever a Lil Yachty song hits the radio. He’s an ardent student of the craft, the kind of hip-hop head whose copies of All Eyez on Me and The College Dropout have seen a lot of use, the kind who believes that there’s such a thing as “real” hip-hop.
Cole is the kind of rapper that inspires very strong opinions. Review Summary: Cole stops with the self-mythologizing in favor of narrative depth and payoff.