This should, in theory, leave Cole himself to do the heavy lifting, but he’s happy instead to adapt to his surroundings the sedate “She’s Mine” - both parts of it - border on soft spoken word, and when things do take a more intense turn - see the brooding “Immortal” - he opts for nuanced menace, a world away from the giddy faux-indignation of, say, 2014’s “Fire Squad”. The main break with 2014 is that the instrumentals are consistent with that low-key approach the beats are unshowy, and if there’s a throughline, it’s one that nods lightly to jazz wandering basslines, flickers of piano and simple saxophone licks are complimented, here and there, by a restrained string section. His fans are always quick to remind detractors that 2014 went platinum without any guest features - or singles, for that matter - but given how clearly Cole seemed to be driving for understatement with that decision, for his followers to bleat about it so ostentatiously seems to be to miss the point entirely.Īgain, Cole goes it alone on 4 Your Eyez Only and again, any singles here are not especially obvious. His last outing, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, laid further foundations in this respect, but remained bogged down by a bloated runtime and occasional concessions to the Cole of old now, we’re getting its leaner, smarter cousin. It was a muddled record, but the fact that it only served as a ballast for his popularity - it was around this time that he ascended to arena status - is reflective of a more intelligent hip hop climate in general, one in which emotional literacy increasingly wins out over mindless braggadocio.Ĭole remains a long way from the finished product but he has doubled down on his new appetite for reflection over extravagance, especially on this fourth album, 4 Your Eyez Only. Cole began to self-examine, having been put in his place by Nas (“Let Nas Down” was an moving response to his idol’s withering verdict on “Work Out”) and driven to referential introspection by an increasing sense of alienation from his influences. Things took a turn on second full-length Born Sinner. He refined the formula on debut LP proper Cole World: The Sideline Story - a slicker, sharper but no more substantive affair - but it remained tricky to shake the suspicion that Cole wasn’t wearing the traditional trappings of the genre particularly comfortably. “The Autograph”, meanwhile, saw him spin a hackneyed tale of his rise to stardom, and the more reflective moments were positively treacly - see “Home for the Holidays” and “Best Friend”. Back in 2010, on his breakout mixtape Friday Night Lights, he demonstrated immense promise, but did so imbued with no shortage of the archetypal cockiness that's part and parcel of being a young rapper he swiftly claimed a place in the same bracket as Nas with “Villematic”, and channeled the willy-waving of his hero’s “Hate Me Now” on “Blow Up”.

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