When College Dropout was released back in 2004 I knew soon as it played through those Nissan Altima (the mom’s whip) speakers I was listening to a classic. 7 years later I found myself listening to another Hip Hop debut, Cole World: The Sideline Story, in another Nissan Altima (my own). After listening to both albums, I can honestly say both of them are classic debuts. With all of the hype and anticipation around J. Cole‘s release, the ending result should please all of us who patiently, and impatiently waited for the drop.

There are so many good things about Cole World I don’t know where to start. I was very impressed by J. Cole focusing on his own skills rather than including features and multiple producers. Nowadays so many high profiled artists have so many features on their albums that we forget its a SOLO album. J. Cole thought differently by having only 4 features and producing most of the project himself. This allows us to fully understand him as an artist. Now I really don’t have to go into his lyrics too much, his flow was dope on all of his mixtapes and even more impressive on the album. The content of his songs contains issues we “ordinary” citizens can relate to. On Lost Ones he describes a situation that’s way too familiar in our community, whether or not to bring a child into this world out of wedlock. On the project he even discussed how drug addiction affected his own mother. I don’t know about you, but all I ask for artists to do is make real, honest art. Cole World: The Sideline Story is just that, the artwork of a young North Carolinian is now exposed to the entire world.

Cole World: The Sideline StoryCollege DropoutHip HopJ. Cole