So Joseph Cole has just dropped his new album KOD, and today I’m gonna be telling you
what my favourite songs were and giving my praises and criticisms of these tracks.
These will also be ranked in order of least favourite out of the best, to favourite.
Also if you wanna see how I first reacted to this Jeremiah Cole album, the link will
be in the description to my twins channel, CDTVThaG, where he uploaded his reaction and
funnily enough we feel the exact same about it.
So check that out if you feel like it.
So with that being said, this is CDTVProductions, and let’s look at the best tracks on Jared
Cole’s new album, KOD.
5 - J.Cole "Photograph"
Almost all the songs on KOD follow the theme of addiction, and this one sort of tackles
aspects of social media addiction, more specifically falling for a girl purely from her social
media profile and her pictures on there.
It shows how unhealthy this can be, with him literally comparing this girl to Jesus just
because he’s seen her social media, which realistically only displays the best aspects
of her life.
He even mentions being nervous to send her a DM, the whole thing essentially relates
to social media being a whole other drug.
The production on this one is fantastic, and Cole even uses a triplet flow on the bridge
to the hook which was fun to hear.
I’ve heard some people say he’s copying Ski Mask’s flow here, and maybe I’m just
dense, but I can’t hear it.
I think this is a pretty dope song, the only thing I disliked about it was the repetition.
It didn’t really come off as poetic or emphatic, it was just repetition, and it took a little
power out of the lyrics.
Other than that, I really enjoyed this.
4 - J. Cole "Kevin’s Heart"
Here’s a song that talks about cheating on someone, and through the lyrics, you can
see Cole, or whoever he is rapping from the perspective of, is really struggling with
this issue.
Again, it’s almost like they’re hooked on cheating, another thing that ties back
to the theme of the album.
It’s a very interesting concept, and this is also one of the nicest sounding songs on
the album, being produced by one of my favourite producers, T-Minus.
It’s got a bit more of a laid back vibe to it, with Cole providing some fantastic
singing for the intro of the track, and some nice metaphors on the verses.
He also shows regret for his cheating, saying he can’t even see himself when he looks
in the mirror, alluding to the fact that the honest version of himself is fading away.
Yet again, the repetition shows up here and that did annoy me, but the rest of the song
was good.
Not much more I can say, it’s a great sounding track with pretty good lyrics.
3 - J. Cole "Once An Addict (Interlude)"
I’d say this is the most personal song on the album, as it focuses on Cole’s mother
and her substance abuse, and how this had an effect on Cole’s own life and his mental
state.
It’s got some of the hardest hitting lines on the project, such as Cole detailing how
he would deliberately stay out late so he wouldn’t have to come home while his mother
was drunk or high.
The lyrics really show how much of an impact this has had on Cole, as in the last lines
he reveals that he feels kinda guilty and wishes he did more to help her out.
All this is rapped over a pretty stripped down beat that puts all the emphasis on Cole’s
lyrics, and I believe it contains a sample of Kush and Corinthians by Kendrick Lamar.
I knew I recognised that bass line when I first heard the track, I just couldn’t pin
it down.
Overall a very personal track.
2 - J. Cole "ATM"
This is easily the most appealing and upbeat song on the project, and whilst it is very
fun, it still has a somewhat dark and thoughtful message.
The song has bouncing drums, a bit of a dreamy melody, fast flows and a repetitive hook,
but the track tells the story of someone who puts all their happiness and value into the
money that they have.
That’s a pretty dangerous relationship to have with money, because if you lose that
money, or if it starts decreasing, so will all that happiness that you placed into that
money.
That’s the issue this song tackles.
I could easily see this becoming the biggest hit from the project, and if that happens,
it managed to do so whilst sounding like a song that glorifies a money addiction, but
instead it’s actually talking about the dark path this can lead down.
I always love songs where the message juxtaposes the sound of the track, and that happens here
and it makes for a brilliant and very repayable song.
1 - J.Cole "1985 (Intro to “The Fall Off”)"
So this track is supposedly the intro to the next J Cole project “The Fall Off”, and
that makes sense because this track comes after the outro to KOD.
Now I have seen some people say that “The Fall Off” refers to the rappers J Cole is
targeting here, saying that they’ll start to fall off now, but I don’t think that’s
what it means because a) as mentioned, this track comes after the outro, so it only makes
sense that it’s technically not a part of KOD and is part of another project and b)
The Fall Off has quotation marks around it, suggesting it is a project and not just a
phrase.
The song itself is great, with Cole targeting a certain new age rapper, who many have speculated
to be Lil Pump or Smokepurpp.
Some people have said this is about XXXTENTACION but I really do not see it.
He says the rapper in question is a turn up rapper, which X isn’t, that he rides trends,
which again X doesn’t do.
He actually makes music that’s against the norm, the lyrics don’t sound targeted at
him to me at all.
He disses whoever he’s targeting, but at the same time gives them advice on how to
have longevity in rap and not go broke.
It’s nicely laid out.
This is easily the hardest rapping track on the album, and gave me strong Everybody Dies
vibes, but it was even more aggressive than that track.
It was a fantastic song to end the project, and has me curious as to what The Fall Off
is and when it’s coming.
(Outro)