He’s great at synthesizing everyman relationship woes into terse pop nuggets. He makes passable albums with memorable singles. Cole is a workmanlike MC, a good-natured populist grappling with the ridiculousness of sudden celebrity. With 2014, Cole is certain he’s made his classic he’ll tell you as much partway through the 15-minute credit roll “Note to Self”, which apes Kanye West’s joyous, candid College Dropoutcloser “Last Call”. The tracklist swaps s’s for z’s (“Wet Dreamz”, “A Tale of 2 Citiez”, “Love Yourz”) like 2pac’s All Eyez on Me. The cover is shot at his childhood home as Eminem did on the Marshall Mathers LP.
For his third record, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, he channels the nostalgic self-mythology of Jay-Z’s Black Album.
Cole is aware of the structure and pace of good rap albums and anxious to apply them to his own music. Cole is a student of hip-hop, the kind who moves to New York to stalk Jay-Z for an opportunity to rap for him, peppers his lyrics with nods to the greats, and pens an apology to Nas when his biggest single comes across as too poppy.
