Another overly-ambitious effort from J. Cole? Maybe. The man has always had a penchant for overreaching his thematic and conceptual abilities, achieving greatness on only one of his now five studio albums, 2014 Forest Hills Drive. Following up his 2016 album 4 Your Eyez Only, KOD might not sit on the same shelf as his best album, but it's closer to it than he was last time. While 4YEO suffered from mediocre singing, songs that doubled as sleeping pills. and a lack of thematic cohesion, KOD suffers only from the latter.
Self-produced entirely but for one track, Cole's instrumentals are much more energetic and colorful this time around, but still maintain a subdued feeling. Title track 'KOD' is simplistic but exciting, a trap-influenced head-nodder with booming bass and sparse drums, enhanced by one of Cole's catchiest hooks yet. 'The Cut Off' is a soft piano-backed track, carrying a low-energy feel that gets flipped on it's head completely by the next track, 'ATM', another piano track that is far more frantic. But for me, the instrumental highlights for this album begin at the second half of the album, starting with 'BRACKETS' and consisting until the final track. The murky, ominous bass and rumbling drums perfectly match the desperate and depressed subject matter of 'Once An Addict', and the catchy, bouncy tone of '1985 (Intro To "The Fall Off")' do a great job helping Cole convey his cautionary tale to today's youth in rap. The lone dud on KOD is the only track Cole did not produce himself, 'Kevin's Heart'. Cole's sings drearily as ever here, and seems to play into the "kids on drugs' theme of the album - lyrics such as "slip me a xanny at once / I got the earth in a blunt" and nonsense ad-libs after every line makes a good impression of the hip-hop that is popular these days, but Cole doesn't offer anything extra to make it entertaining or thought-provoking; it's simply an authentic mimic of a dumbed-down style, resulting in a dumbed-down song. Luckily, Cole returns to his usual self on 'BRACKETS' directly after, waxing lyrical his concerns about his taxes - where they go, what wrong that they're being spent on, and questioning why he himself has no choice over where his 'hard-earned bread' goes. Although some lines seem slightly under-thought ("it's 2018, let me pick the things I'm funding from an app on my screen" doesn't seem to understand how dangerous allowing hackers potential access to deciding where millions in tax dollars go could be) the message is clear, and Cole's frustration is relatable and understandable - especially considering he likely pays more in tax than any of us, or at least this reviewer, will ever make. The album "closes" with a pair of tracks that work as the outro to KOD (the true final track, '1985' serving more as a bonus track) titled 'FRIENDS' and 'Window Pain (Outro)'. They serve as Cole's final statement, and the pay-off to the "build-up" he was creating across the album. On 'FRIENDS' Cole speaks on damaged people that turn to drugs to attempt and alleviate their pain, check-listing everything he blames drug addiction on, and after all this, pleads that instead of turning to substances, those who seek help should instead "meditate". After hearing the words "choose wisely" repeated for almost the entire album, relating to how one chooses to deal with the "much pain" that life inevitably brings, this is all he offers. For all the vocal urgency and pure intent he throws into this, it's a very unrewarding ending to the album, and highlights the main weakness that Cole's albums suffer from consistently. Although on KOD the individual songs are for the most part stronger than they were on 4YEO, he still struggles to connect them together into a larger picture. He achieved this to great success on 2014FHD, using his songs to detail the story from dreams to success to regret, but hasn't replicated a coherent narrative on an album since. KOD claims to boast three acronyms: kids on drugs, king overdose, and kill our demons. However, nowhere on the album are these words explained, or even spoken, and only kids on drugs seems to relate to the subject matter on the album. Similar to 4YEO, Cole's ambitions are limited by both the runtime of the project (KOD clocking in even shorter than last time, at 42:27) and the tendency to either tangent from the promised content, or to ignore it completely. (The opening verse of this album finds Cole addressing those who claim he should feature guest rappers on his albums, something he has not done since 2013. It's a good few bars, but completely unrelated to the KOD theme.) All this being said, what KOD could have been doesn't necessarily take away from what it is. Cole's rapping is back to it's better levels, and his flow is very entertaining to listen to on numerous tracks across the album. The individual strengths of numerous songs ("ATM' , 'BRACKETS', 'Once An Addict', & '1985' all spring to mind) help the album stand up despite falling short on promised narrative, and the instrumental setting of KOD is one of his best, second only to 2014FHD. It's a sign of improvement for Cole, and a step back in the direction that led him to greatness his first time. If only he could resist his urges and stick to his themes, then KOD could be much more, but it's still certainly enjoyable for what it is, offering consistently good songs, and occasionally some great ones. 80/100 |
201820162015Scores0-30 = Bad
31-49 = Sub-par 50-60 = Average 61-70 = Decent 71-80 = Good 81-89 = Great 90-99 = Incredible 100 = Perfect Archives
September 2018
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