When I first heard that this was going to be the name of J. Cole’s new album I instantly thought of the notes we used to pass back and forth in middle school. You know the ones I’m talking about, the ones we used to fold all fancy-like and “2: You” and “4rm: Me” on the outside. This was long before the days of texting, in fact, this was when it was cheaper to send an instant message on AIM than it was to text someone. Well in true J. Cole form he stayed true to what he knows and this album sounded like one of those letters coming from a beau. Songs like “Folding Clothes”, “She’s Mine Pt. 1&2” and “Déjà Vu” were fast favorites, especially since he sampled a sample on “Déjà Vu”.
Cole is one of those rappers who can release an entire album (a critically acclaimed one at that) without a single feature and he did it again. He found the right formula with Forest Hill Drive and continued it with this album. My only complaint was that it was too short. I don’t know if he got with Bruno Mars and the two of them conspired to give us great short albums. ‘4 Your Eyez Only’ was another one of those albums that I had on repeat for a few hours at work, and since I didn’t realize the date until after I’d gotten to work and opened Spotify my first few listens were of the edited version. I don’t mind a few expletives, but it wouldn’t have been work appropriate. In fact, I’ll be sharing the edited version on my blog today. If you haven’t listened to the album I recommend you check it out below and feel free to leave a comment or tweet me and let me know what you think.