In this strange post-Cole World: The Sideline Story era, I've remained dubious about what Cole's up to at the moment, and while this latest releases, titled "I'm A Fool," that he dropped live at Rock The Bells in San Bernardino, I'm still a little off-kilter on my stance of what he's producing.
Obviously, we need to take the fact that this is a live release into the equation (and J. actually sounds off that he might f*ck up), but this latest release that, I'm assuming, will show up in studio quality soon, doesn't sound like too much to get tangled up over. Maybe it's because he spends the early half a knick off of time with the beat, or because there's a heavy redundancy in sound, but there's really nothing fresh about what you're hearing.
JT Langley:
I dig what you're saying. I've been on Cole since 'The Come Up' ('Warm Up' is one of my favorite tapes from the last decade. Phenomenal). I think he's put his focus more on production rather than rhyming as of late, which is chill, because his beats are really stepping up. I was probably a little too hasty to throw out judgment on this one, but I think he's still looking for lyrical adaption to his instrumental expansion, solely in terms of style. Contextually, he's amazing, and the skill level has always been elevated. 'Cole World' was hard to dig following 'Friday Night Light's (and especially the earlier tapes), and I agree that his sophomore effort will probably be infinitely better because he doesn't have to aim as much for mainstream appeal. This is just one of those "judgment of the moment" things. I probably hold too high/hard of expectations, but with someone of his caliber, it's difficult sometimes to not expect everything new he does to be astonishing. You've always got to step back and remember the guy is only human, and I figure I probably jumped past that reality on this one. It's much better the third-fourth time around. It could definitely be an 'Any Given Sunday' type of throwaway, but the fact that he debuted it at Rock the Bells implied (at least to me) that "I'm A Fool" holds some larger importance than simply being a throwaway. We'll see though. And I can't disagree with the line you posted, haha. It'll be interesting to see what Cole's cooking up alongside this one.
August 21, 2012
Christian Awori:
PS: The verses are crazy!! "I'm a fool. No cuts, i don't bruise, so f^ck y'all reviews!"
Christian Awori:
Its just you. See 'Leave Me Alone' and 'Grew up Fast.' The verse on "They Ready" (DJ Khaled, "Kiss The Ring," Track 5) is pretty on point too. How much Cole did you have time for before Cole World? This song may never make it to an album. As a producer/rapper Cole seems to have songs to throw away (Recall, the Any Given Sunday series) i'm predicting a superior sophemore effort. Don't get stuck on the one offs. Sounds like he penned this the night before and had it on the forefront. What else had you heard that you didn't like since Cole World dropped 11 months ago?
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