The Sideline Story Needed More Time on The Bench

When the future of Hip Hop was in serious jeopardy, around 2007, little known North Carolina rapper J Cole released his The Come Up, and cemented himself at the forefront of the future of hip hop. Ranging from deeply personal, to ill brags, to hopeful aspirations being king (thanks to an adopted persona of Simba of Lion King fame), it was critically acclaimed and started off a trifecta of some of the best mixtapes in recent memory. While working on his next mixtape, The Warm Up, a leaked song got the attention of legend Jay Z, who made him the first member of his new record label Roc Nation in 2009.  Followed up by Friday Night Lights in 2010, all was set for Cole to release his debut LP to the world that winter.

                Then…nothing. Delay after delay after delay plagued Cole’s schedule, and the buzz was dying.  When he finally put out one single ‘Who Dat’, it failed to gather any sort of mainstream attention that Jay Z wanted, so the album got pushed back even more. Finally, after nearly two years of sitting on the sideline, Cole somehow managed to put out Cole World: The Sideline Story (get it)? Though somehow Cole went from emotional to wimpy, and the few tracks the took off his mixtapes were not the strongest. 

                Also, can I just bring something up? Why does J Cole look like he’s about to cry in every single picture? He looks like Eeyore, straight up.

                The album suffers from three main problems:

1.       Cole doesn’t sound hungry throughout the entire album. Listening to it from start to finish, you can clearly tell what songs were written in the early stages of recording, and which ones were written when he just wanted to get the album out.

2.       There is way too much filler. It bloats the albums to be unbearably long. The LP would’ve been a great EP.  When your album is 60 minutes, and feels like it’s 75, there’s a problem.

3.       There is way too much appeal to the mainstream. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it feels like Cole was forced into it (similar to Lupe Fiasco and Lasers). Despite Cole’s claim to be 100% behind the final product, compared to his earlier work, it seems far toio poppy.

Cole self produces most of the album, and most of it holds up. Though at times it seems too melodramatic, making the subject matter of songs seems too over the top, and they lose some of their meaning.

        ‘Lost Ones’ is the perfect example of this. J Cole harnesses his inner Common and laments unwanted pregnancy by taking on both sides of a couple (he raps as a boyfriend in the first verse, and his pregnant girlfriend in the second).  While conceptually great, the execution is sloppy. Cole comes off perfectly as the deadbeat-boyfriend, but unintentionally hilarious as the girl . The overdramatic beat doesn’t help, since it sounds like the score to a chick flick more than a hip hop beat.  ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ is the type of song for girls who keep a candy bar in their glove compartment. The beat is nice for R ‘n B, which is fine since it features R ‘n B legend Missy Elliot, but it’s so cliché and pop driven, it is hardly worth multiple listens. It should’ve been left on the cutting room floor.

        ‘Lights Please’, a song taken from his Warm Up mixtape, continues the trend of excellent concepts, but less-than-perfect execution. A ode to ignorant women, Cole comes off whiny as he complains about his girl who only wants to have fun, instead of trying to understand the world’s hardship. ‘In the Morning’, a song reused off his Friday Night Lights mixtape, features his rival Drake to deliver a song with more estrogen than is in the crowd of the Oprah Winfrey show. Drake ups the wimpy quota when he raps “Yeah, and if you gotta leave for work, I'll be right here in the same bed that you left me in” to the girl he had just met the night before. I know this made the cut just because it has Drake on it, but really?

        Speaking of high-profile guests, ‘Can’t get enough’ features hit maker Trey Songz  and a beat that sounds like an R Kelly song that would’ve been dated in 2003.  It’s commercial fluff (no wonder it was a single). ‘Mr. Nice Watch’ is a song that Jay Z literally decided to get on during the final mix. J and Jay spit about how nice their watches are. That’s something I want to hear from Jay, not J. Jay slays Cole’s first two verses with his opening couplet alone “I got a Hublot, I call it Tebow, I strap that bitch with a gator band, Y'all niggas ball half-time, y'all niggas like the Gator band”. It features some euro-trash beat. ‘Cole World’ is a bland brag track. I would comment on it, but I can’t even remember it.

        Then comes the good. ‘Dollar and a Dream III’ has a Cole that sounds a hungry as ever, and beckons back to his Simba persona. The overly dramatic beat fits the song, and it shows Cole at his peak. He knows he’s close to becoming huge, and it shows how bad he wants it. ‘Sideline Story’ continues this theme in a more depressing light of how conflicting fame can be, whether emotionally or socially. Depressing keys help aid the mood of the song, making it emotional without making Cole seem like a Pansy.

        ‘Never Told’ is Cole’s view on cheating from nearly all angles. However, the peak of the song comes when he laments how he saw his own father cheating and never told anyone (hence the title). ‘Breakdown’ is a culmination of all of Cole’s burdens: growing up in the hood, his non-existent father, his struggles through the rap game. It all comes together to create a classic Cole song.

 The emotional Cole has to take a quick break when the braggadocio persona comes up. ‘Rise and Shine’ switches between making a name for himself and dissing all that stand in his way. It’s great, except for the beat that feels like every single other orchestral beat on the album. ‘God’s Gift’ has a beautifully soul-sampled beat that harkens back to the early days of Kanye West. Cole thanks god for his rapping ability, and continues the ‘Dollar and a Dream’ theme of he changed everyone’s mind of who he is. He even laughs about how Jay Z dismissed him earlier “Jigga wouldn't even take my CD when he seen me, Two years later we made it on, on to the Blueprint”. ‘Who Dat’, which was released nearly a year ago, has a Cole at his hungriest. With a marching band vibe, and ill brag rhymes it still amazes me how this didn’t blow up. It’s restricted to a bonus track, but it should’ve made the final cut.

                The two other bonus tracks are forgettable. ‘Daddy’s Little Girl’ has one of the most annoying and depressing beats I have ever heard, and continues the ‘Lights Please’ theme, that wasn’t welcome there. ‘Work Out’ is a generic single, but for what it is, it isn’t bad. It’s just not what I want to hear from someone with this much Talent.

All and all the Cole World is average. Too much fluff, not enough substance. The beats can get annoying and this work has some of the corniest lines I have ever heard, especially “Cole’s heatin up like left over lasagna”. I want to know who was sitting in the studio when he recorded that. Because I were there, I would’ve stopped the recording, and smacked the shit outta him. Still, the old Cole still shines through the second half of the disk. Still, I’d buy it. He’s a great artist who needs support, and you could waste you money on much worse things.

Overall: Three Eeyores out of Five

Thank God/Song of the Now

Common with No I.D. on the boards guest featuring the king Nas...in 2011? What a miracle.

Common is the Most Slept-on Contender for G.O.A.T.

Whenever someone brings up the topic of who is the greatest emcee of all time, someone brings the motherfucking ruckus. The debate can never truly ever be resolved, but there appear to be some recurring players. Nas, Biggie, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Ice Cube, Eminem, KRS-One and Tupac are all common choices for the G.O.A.T.. Whenever these debates come up, I always await one name that I rarely hear: Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr., or Common. The greatest emcee the Midwest has ever seen (suck it Marshal) rarely gets justice, but why?

                Sure, his last two albums have been between average and god-awful, but if can look past his recent mis-steps of inconsistent guest verses, his hypocritical Finding Forever, which was a near carbon-copy of Be (“Specially when you as bitch as Missy Back to back LP's that sound the same” (Doonit, Like Water For Chocolate)) and his terrible experiment into Euro-trash, Universal Mind Control,  Common stands as one of the most changing, consistent and mature emcees to ever walk the earth.

                Want a rundown of Common’s career? One of the best Dj Premier produced Songs ever, one of the best album intros ever, dope, dope, dope storytelling tracks, debatably the greatest ode to black women ever, ill, ill, ill brag tracks, the most amazing tribute to the black family and THE GREATEST HIP HOP SONG EVER (umadbro? Tell me what the greatest song is then). Not enough? He also has the most consistent album history ever.

                Let me rate every album in his catalogue out of 5. Can I Borrow a Dollar (3.5) Resurrection (5) One Day it’ll all Make Sense (4.5), Like Water for Chocolate (5), Electric Circus (4), Be (5), Finding Forever (3.5), Universal Mind Control (2).  That’s an average of more than 4/5 an album. That’s incredible. With the exception of Be to Finding Forever, no two albums are the same sonically. Up through Be Common matured on every album. From his Phife-like bounciness on his debut up to a dissection of God as a woman on Be, the Chicago emcee never stayed in one place.

                Common stood strong in his moral agenda throughout his career. Never a misogynist, gangsta or club-rat, Common tried to add something of sustenance to the hip hop community, and he stressed that (I’ve never heard an emcee come up with so many different rhymes for ‘hip hop’ in my life). Though it never felt like he put himself on a soapbox or on a pedestal, he just felt like an extremely intelligent guy trying to sway you to be the same. He comes off as a college professor who retired to lead the black panthers, not as a Chuck D-type angry young rebel. No one has more maturely spit topics than Common.

                Technically, Common has the chops. A versatile flow that is rarely the same from track to track and when he wants too he can pull lyrical miracles. Full of a charming charisma that can carry even terrible tracks to be somewhat bearable and live, don’t even get me started.

                Is Common the G.O.A.T.? I wouldn’t say so, though I would put him in the Top 5. I just wish his name would come up more in these discussions. He’s been around since 1992, making repeatedly great music in the underground and the semi-mainstream and gets no credit. Maybe if he got a couple more pats on the back he’d step his game back up, furthering his legacy, and that could never be a bad thing.

Beyond the Shadows: Excellent emcees who are never seen outside the shadow of their friend/mentors

                It’s far too easy to sleep on great emcees. Remember Eminem and Common toiled in the underground? How about the way the Fat Boys got way more commercial exposure than Rakim and Big Daddy Kane ever got for making rap songs about pizza (too be fair, they still spit better Rick Ross at times)? It’s even easier to ignore rappers who happen to have a far more famous and successful counterparts that more people have heard of. Though that’s hardly fair to those fighting in the underground when they might be better at times (or altogether) than their mainstream counterparts. This is a tribute to those underground emcees. I’m doing this off the top of the dome, so the list may seem…lacking. I’ll try to return to topics like this in the future, but for now here they are:

Royce Da 5’9”: Mainstream Friend: Eminem Song to Listen too: Boom

Poor Royce. He had one feature on Em’s debut album, and acted as his hype man from 199-2001. He got signed to Aftermath records, and was bubbling on the surface of success, more so than anyone else in D12 (Eminem’s posse). Than whoop, one little freestyle causes a beef that splits him apart from Marshall for nearly a decade.  It’s a shame, because one can’t help but think Royce’s departure aided the dark age of Eminem (2003-2009). He recently re-united with Em last month to put out an EP.

                Still, one can always criminally underestimate Royce. Every list of the top 50 emcees I see, Royce appears in the low 30’s. Blasphemy! Royce has put out one of the best Dj Premier Collaborations ever (Boom) gave Eminem one of his best flows of all time (Royce: First verse, Em: Final Verse) and crafted of the greatest dis songs of all time on a goddamn mixtape (Malcom X). Technically, he’s far more consistent than his white friend. So stop sleeping, and go listen.

AZ: Mainstream Friend: Nas Song to Listen too: Life’s a Bitch (first verse)

Poor-er AZ. Like Royce he had a guest spot on his friend’s debut. Then he goes on to put out one of the best Mafioso albums of all time (Sugar Hill, cop it, its fucking great). Nas lays down some sold verses on this album, and begins to slightly bite AZ’s angle and style. Then…nothing. AZ has appeared on a Nas album once since then (ironically Stillmatic) and his own output is shotty at best. However, there is no excuse to ignore his accomplishments in mid 90’s. It would be hard to argue that anyone in that time-period could spit internal rhymes better than him or  

Others who I wish I knew enough about to write an accurate piece on them: Killa Priest (GZA) Cormega (Nas)

Song of the Now

Odd Future is NOT the new Wu-Tang, Nor will they ever be

                Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All is a name that is turning heads and snapping necks in the hip hop world today. Tyler, The Creator’s 2^nd LP debuted at number 5, they have performed on Jimmy Fallon, been interviewed for Rolling Stone and have almost hit mainstream appeal. Working a Skater-Horrorcore angle, attracting everyone from teenage white girls, to thirty year old Eminem fans, Odd Future is the ‘next big thing’ for the underground hip hop world. Consisting of 11(with only 7 of whom actually rap) kids from LA (and adding more with some regularity), they spit vulgar, rape-y and overall fucked-up content over dark synths (for the most part). Every member brings something slightly different to the party (though some seem eerily similar, though more on that later) to create a conglomeration not worth fucking with.

                Due to their large numbers and their supergroup-mentality, many similarities have been drawn between OF and the undeniably classic Wu-Tang Clan. However, while surface deep appearance may paint the illusion that the groups are inherently alike; the groups could not be more different.

                Any half-baked fuck can offer an explanation for the founding of OFWGKTA, but The Wu had a clear intent: an industry shift and takeover. Wu-Tang never had any intention of becoming one of hip-hop’s most darling and successful groups, they all just wanted their piece of the pie, and it just so happened pie-snatching occurs the easiest in posses. Even with the within Wu, they functioned as a group. 36 Chambers  (their debut album) had a whooping five posse cuts on a 11 track album. To date, I have not heard a single Odd Future song with more than three members. Odd Future is a collective, Wu is a group. The WolfGang should run as a pack, not as pairs.

                At least every individual Killa Bee had their own identity. I’d be hard pressed for anyone listening to Wu to confused RZA with GZA, Ghostface with Raekwon, or Method Man with Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Hell, any mildly seasoned hip-hop fan could tell Masta Killa apart from Inspecta Deck. Every member of Wu shined bright. I wish the same could be said of Odd Future. Outside of Tyler, The Creator, Frank Ocean and Earl Sweatshirt, not a single member of Odd Future really stands out. Could be Jasper Dolphin, could be Hodgy Beats; like I could give a fuck. You could say, “but durrrr danneh dere voicez r diffrnt…” bitch that’s not what I meant. Listen to ‘Bitch Suck Dick’ and ‘Sandwiches’ and see how bright Tyler shines, then focus on the guests. Besides the overall theme of the songs, notice how both seem to bring an identical style, which is just Tyler-lite.  Shit, if you take out all of the rape in Jasper’s verse from ‘Bitch suck Dick’ and had Timberland produce it instead, you could have had a club single.  Earl also brings a Tyler-lite style, but his age and his sheer technical skill set him apart. Frank Ocean is just so talented (and fairly normal) that he stand head and shoulders over anyone else in the collective.

                Will anyone say they’re ‘influenced by Odd Future’? Of course. But that’s more of a generational thing. Anyone from 5 years ago who brought a similar style would have blamed DMX or Eminem, 10 years ago the Getto Boyz or Esham hell, maybe even Ganksta N.I.P. (bonus points if you’ve ever heard of him). Really, besides the rape being taken to a new level (though COUGHMINDOFALUNATICCOUGH) they add nothing new to horrorcore. And fuck yeah they’re horrorcore, maybe a little more from left field than ever before, but the themes are the same. Honestly, I would give more kudos to their image than their music. Maybe a little-bit more outlandish, but nothing special.

                Wu, on the other hand helped shape the landscape of the 90’s. Mafioso (and talking about hustling in general), which gave us the downfall of Nas, and Kool-G-Rap (two of the best to ever spit) and birthed AZ, Jay-Z and Notorious B.I.G., was forever changed by Ghostface Killah and Raekwon, even within a year or two period. RZA along with Dj Premier helped pioneer the Boom-Bap style of production, which rivaled G-funk as the most popular style of production from 1993-1997. Perhaps most important they, along with Onyx, helped define Hardcore rap.   

                Now I’m just rambling. My final point is that Odd Future, besides Frank Ocean’s Multi-talented gifts and Earl Sweatshirt’s amazing rhyme-schemes, do not offer much technical skill. Yes, Tyler one of the best voices and biggest personas in hip-hop today, and the production can be extremely good. But would anyone put any member of Odd Future in the category of GZA, Raekwon, Ghostface or even Method Man? Doubt it. Hell, even new school emcees enjoying roughly the same popularity as them (J. Cole, Lupe Fiasco, Blu to name a few) are much better emcees than any found in OFWGKTA.

                Though don’t call me a hater. I still like Odd Future, and will continue to listen and follow their their movement. Hell, if they ever show up next to my hometown, I’d love to see them live. However, I find them overhyped and starting to become overexposed. Remember how Eminem could only produce two albums of good horrorcore in the mainstream eye? Odd Future could easily lose all shock-value and simply fall back into the dank LA underground from whence they came. Although that would be bad for the music, and that’s the last thing I want. Though a second coming of Wu-Tang would be better…