#Personally i despise hearing any talk of Christmas until its ACTUALLY december

[spongebob-connoisseur]

It's December so you know what that means🎅

[wordsbymz-blog]

4 Your Eyez Only... Through My Ears & Mind

J. Cole announced his fourth album just 8 days prior its release. I was happy, among many others, that I'll get to hear some new tales from an excellent storyteller, which can drag his listeners inside the narrative and make them easy to relate to. I looked for the album right after waking up in the morning on the 9th of December and instantly pressed play. As expected, Cole and his team created another mind blowing experience. 

 There are many ways you could interpret this album as a whole and each song separately. It can be viewed as a reflection and reminder of black a man's life and his enviroment, victims of stereotypical assumptions of society. Or it might be a tale of a rappers childhood friend, James, which was killed aged 22 years old. So this is just my version of understanding the album. 4 Your Eyez Only through my ears and mind.

 Two things I have to say first. I have never studied English grammar in school (nor have I self-studied for that matter). So at times I got lost in my own process of thoughts, just like in "De Ja Vu". Not sure if I'll ever fully understand it, but I do have my theories. 

 The record is open with James's prayer for a better tommorow, since he's afraid his days are getting closer to an end. Cole here, on the other hand, contemplates his career. In next they both are thinking about the immortality of an individual and his legacy, whether is the one who escaped Fayetteville or the other left behind. 

 Similar thoughts resonate in "Ville Mentality", where James and Jermaine ask themselves, how long they can survive with the mentality residing in their town. Cole can't wait to leave that place. James doubts his own life lasting long, surrounded by stereotypes and putting up a front. Just like the rapper isn't so sure about his longevity in the music industry with analogical settings.  

 Suddenly, James finds hope in new love, which feels amazing. He literally feels alive more then ever and is not willing to die anymore. He realizes that this girl is getting to know him better day by day and stops his fear of opening up to someone for the first time in his life. In the words you feel the mad love Cole has for his wife. 

 Both our protagonists like their newly gained positive outlook. They reminisce over their development from child to a man, that made one of them victim of stereotypes and the "I'd only fuck up anyway" attitude, while the other became one of the most talked about names on scene in past decade. They acknowledge that only dreaming and planing on changing for better isn't enough. One needs to work on those changes. They know spilling blood over women, money and respect is poison of communities. For James it is his daily reality. He's dying. Jermaine wakes up to undescribeable feeling, seeing TV reporting on his friend's murder. The outro of "Changes" is simulating James's funeral.  Pastor urges on mourners, promising revegne, to stop this from happening again. This vicious circle has gotten way out of hand. Circle, which Cole explains through out the album on various occassions. 

 Just like he does on the next track. "Neighbors" is about stereotypical prejudices of the society. J. Cole offers an example from his own recent experience. He rented a house in a "decent" neighborhood to escape everything and wind up this record. There were mainly black people coming into the house and occasionally blazing in the yard. Mostly white neighbors concluded they must be growing and selling weed in there and called the cops. S.W.A.T. team raided the house while the crew was at SXSW in Texas. In chorus Jermaine admits, he actually is selling dope product. He's well aware of cases, where this prejudice escalated and resulted in the death of innocent people. As an illustration he uses killing of Trayvon Martin. Some things you can't escape (in the US)  - death, taxes and a racist society, which makes Cole worry about his own life. Integration certainly didn't have the desired effect people hoped for in the sixties.

 James and Jermain serande their better halfs during pregnancy in "Folding Clothes". They want to make their life easier during these times and future ones too. They take it as preperation for fatherhood.  Both of our narrators notice how soft they are becoming. They dont mind, though. Outro of this song give us another reflection on the hypocrisy prevaling in the hood. Its everywhere - relationships, friendships and (not only) in James's case at job interviews. However he still hopes for a better tommorow. 

 There's new hope on the horizon with the birth of James's daughter. He isn't sure if he's strong enough or even deserves to be a father. James promises to defend her from evil or prepare her for it, as he can't stop everything from happening. So he decides not to celebrate Santa or Christmas, since it is only one of the ways to breed greed in people from childhood. He finally is experiencing the feeling of being needed and wanted for the first time, up until now he experienced the exact opposite. For him his daughter is the only positive thing he ever did. Because of her, he feels alive again, willing to fight for survival and doesn't want to die.

 Just as in sonet, even here comes the denouement at the very end. If the listener didn't quite catch the story behind the album, last and the most emotional song will uncover it for him/her. James is trying to live lawfuly. Though it's hard for the convicted man to find a job. He returns to what he knows, and to what will secure his baby girl for sure. The fear of the forthcoming end has sneaked back again. He knows that if it comes, it will be the consequences of his own actions and the stereotypicaly minded society. Will there be time for him to teach his offspring things he had to learn for himself? What if she finds out about his death from the news? Is she gonna find a man better then himself? Is she going to understand? Perhaps she'll hate, despise or even miss him. James just hopes she won't fall into same vicious circle as him. He is aware of the fact he isn't alive if she listens to this song. Although he would rather if such song never existed and he could be there for her. Still, he begs the Lord not to take him so soon from her. 

  Heartbreaking syntax is closing with J. Cole telling the story of a phone call he once had with James. Jermaine felt the panic in his voice, but his friend didn't want to tell him what was going on. James reminised about the old days, how he admired him for his goals and ambitions since then. He urged the rapper for a first and the only favour. He wanted him to tell his daughter, Nina the story of her father and the reason behind his actions, which (as he phrophesied) lead him to a premature grave. 

 Jermaine Cole did not betray his friend and created a whole album not just for James's daughter, but for all the children, victims of mass incarceration (if you aren't familiar with this topic, check the documentary 13th from the produced by Netflix). Everything finishes with Cole asuring Nina that her father was real. Not because of girls, how hard he was or for the fact he was in jail. Her father was real, because he loved her. 

 Summary conclusion:

 There is certainly no doubt, that the fourth album of native frankfurter is the realest one and for the matter the most personal as well. On 2014's Forest Hills Drive the artist took his listeners on a trip through his life. But this feels even more personal, vulnerable or exposed if you like. Cole, known for preserving his private life, has honored the memory of his late friend in a trully dignified way. 

 I cant shake the feeling we've heard about "James" already in the past (i.e.: "3 Wishes”). But the story of his life with such details had never been completely revealed, if I could put it this way. Now the right time has come to fullfil the promise Jermaine gave to his friend. It's possible, that the trigger could've been the fact of Cole and his wife expecting a daughter themselves. As I did mention before everyone can interpret the record in a different way. That's the beauty in music and J. Cole's work in general. 

Personally, I believe its the story of a rappers friend, parallely complemented by Cole's point of view or his own experiences. As he mentioned himself, even though this was meant for Nina, it is supposed to serve all the children in similar situations. Anyone could identify and learn from it could really. 

 The thing with me is: Being from the Czech Republic, it used to be hard for me to even  understand the words of any lyrics, wether it was pop, metal or hip hop. But in the past years I dug a little deeper. So for me its something still fresh to see all the double meanings or even hidden meanings behind words, whole songs and records. 

 It is part of the reason why "4 Your Eyez Only" is so strong for me. I enjoy his wordplay, despite it being a bit distressing in this case.  My mind is stuck on three  particular cases of such feeling, all in the song "Neighbors".  "Some things you can't escape - death taxes and a ra-cist society..."......marked part about society sounding as it is....but also as N.R.A. - National Riffle Association. A few bars later you can hear no less thought through  homonym - news sounding also like noose. Third case is in the background the repeated words "...don't follow me...", which are inspired by the late Trayvon. It would be foolish to regard to J. Cole as only a storyteller. He's considering each & every element thoroughly and his product is the proof. 

 Which brings me to the sound of the fourth studio record "4 Your Eyez Only". Which, at first, was being created in the afore-mentioned house in North Carolina and its provisional studio called "The Sheltuh". The works have later moved to the legendary Electric Lady Studios based in New York and built in 1970 by the late Jimi Hendrix. Ever since then, it has been used by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Kanye West, Lady Gaga, The Rolling Stones, The Roots, John Lennon and many others, now including J. Cole.  He produced or assisted production with the majority of the record himself. Not shying away from showcasing his guitar playing talents. 

Cole invited for production yet again colleagues from Dreamville Records - Ron Gilmore and Elite - which ,as proven in the past, has worked well. He also invites others such as Childish Major, Boy-1da and Vinylz. It's easy to see that Jermaine likes to work with people he trusts. From wide range of people I have to mention co-founder of Dreamville and manager Ibrahim Hammad, sound engineer Mez, fine-tuning rappers sound for nearly a decade, as well as CharGaux, bringing vocals and strings ever since 2014 Forest Hills Drive. 

 I'm enjoying the jazzy vibe on the album. There might not be a generic club banger for mass-market, but who's to say ,you need one to be succesful. Someone can possibly think that the instrumental foundation of this project is dull, when compared to his previous work. I dare to oppose. In this case, it seems to me that story or message was given absolute priority. It was confirmed to me by Cole himself in the Eyez documentary shot mostly at Electric Lady Studio and its area during the process of making he record. Here he states: "...You get to this point in [your] career, in terms of platform. Next one might go down or it could go up. You can't guarantee to be this high again. While I'm here let me use this opportunity I have to say the realest shit I ever have...". Same "critics" might say that Cole isn't saying anything new. Which unfortunately might be true, but those things are still happening. With that, I do not want to say that the album is weak from the side of lyrics or sound. Actually, it's the very opposite. Everything sounds and feels united and is eloequently illustrating the atmosphere of "4 Youre Eyez Only' filled with emotions. 

I doubt that J. Cole's platform would go down after this work of art anytime soon. He seems to be humble and always trying to become an even better man. If the media and the industry were to cast him away, his devoted fan base, to whom he delivers hope, will support for a long while. For many enthusiats, he's already now immortal.