Over the course of his career, J. Cole has left me confused as a consumer, unsure of whether I enjoy or dislike his music. In 2013 he dropped his debut album Born Sinner that was well-received from fans and critics alike. This was an album that I enjoyed as well, featuring hits such as “Forbidden Fruit” and “Power Trip”.

In 2014, he came back with 2014 Forest Hills Drive, his second full length album that consisted of 13 songs and no features. This formula proved to be too much J Cole for me. Soon after it released, the record became incredibly old, and to this day I don’t find myself going back to it for a single song.

Transition to 2016 and in similar fashion to his previous record, J Cole makes a surprise appearance at the end of the year and drops a new project entitled 4 Your Eyez Only and when I started listening to the first song, I thought that Cole was onto something.

However, as I got deeper into the record, I realized that a lot of what made me dislike J Cole is present on his newest album. The biggest drawback from this project is the subpar lyricism from an artist that has built a career around conscious subjects.  Many of the lines don’t sit well with me and these instances occur too often for me to declare this an overall good body of work.

However, this doesn’t go to say that there’s no bright spots. On tracks like “From Whom the Bell Tolls”, “Change” and “Neighbors”, there’s definitely some areas that need to be praised. As a matter of fact, track seven, “Neighbors”, is one of my favorite songs of 2016. That’s something that I didn’t expect to say about a J Cole song.

All in all, J Cole’s new record was surprising yet disappointing. I’m feeling a light to medium 6 out of 10, but on a J Cole scale, a 6 is pretty solid. I’ll be coming back to this album for a few songs while also wishing I had never heard some others.