I'm as big a J. Cole advocate as anyone, but you guys are going to have to accept at some point that many of the very people criticizing J. Cole were the ones who loved him in the first place. He's simply never topped Friday Night Lights. Do you have any idea how many people I know that bought Cole's album because 2014 was generally wack and because of the racial turmoil in America at the time? They don't even listen to it anymore. When I hear FHD, all I think is that Chance the Rapper should be the one singing this song or rapping this verse. You can see where Chance was part of that creative process or inspired it. He's not a better lyricist than Cole but he's a better harmonizer. J. Cole is that dude that many people support because his presence is necessary in the game, and because of his past work and what they believe he represents. That's a substantial portion of his support, but quietly they're wondering how this dude is getting bigger while he has yet to drop a truly great album (though the gap between him and Kendrick is exaggerated). I just never says hit because cats get defensive when you offer any critique that isn't on the dope/wack dichotomy. If you ever pay attention, the loudest critics of J. Cole are people that want him to be as great as he was on his mixtapes and are not satisfied that he hasn't had one album come close (like me).
Look at the production on Surf, I just think this is what he should be rapping over.
I'm not feeling that much. shyt I only listen to bout 3 songs of his mixtape Acid rap(Mainly the ones where he uses that quirky drug addict voice)
.
