Cole World is back! J. Cole dropped his fifth studio album The Off-Season a week ago and has been praised by many. I wanted to use this time to give my thoughts on the project. Without further ado, here’s my review of the offseason.
Thoughts Before Listening To The Album
After hearing the interlude and watching his documentary that was teased earlier that week, I was prepared to hear this project.
Cole has been an artist I’ve been listening to since I was in middle school and he’s never disappointed when it comes down to albums.
Tracklist & Features
Let’s start off with the features on the tracklist. Cole has always been an artist that can stand alone musically. Though, he rarely has features on his projects, including his last album where he only had features of himself. With that being said, I enjoyed all of the guest appearances on this album. The placement of the artists worked great on every song. 21 Savage gave one of his best performances on “My Life” along with Soothing vocals from Morray. Lil Baby, 6lack had solid performances as well but Bas had one of my favorite one with his harmonizing in “Let Go Of My Hand.”
Beats
For most of this album, the production was curated by Cole himself, T-Minus & Ibrahim Hamad,. The soulful samples that he uses is where Cole reigns supreme. (My Life, The Climb Back, Interlude, etc). There wasn’t much variety in the beats towards the middle of the album, but it picks back up around “Pride is the Devil.” Overall solid production on The Off-Season.
Lyrics:
When it comes down to his pen game, Cole is one of the best lyricists we’ve seen. However, on this album , it seemed that he elevated onto another level! The project had a lot of quotables & hard hitting lines on each song. His best overall verse was in “a p p l y i n g . p r e s s u r e” where he comes out gunning out the gate!
“Uh, applying pressure
Started my grind where crime festers
And nines showing like they in they second trimesters (Crazy)
That’s why when niggas throw a shot or two online, I pay no mind to their benign gestures “
Listening Experience:
Overall I enjoyed listening to this album and it has made me appreciate J. Cole’s work ethic even more. The Off-Season to me was Cole just practicing new schemes and profecting his craft for The Fall Off, which makes me more excited to hear The Fall Off. Until then, this album will definitely hold for now and its definitely one of the best albums released this year. I would say The Off-Season is his third best album to date behind 2014’s Forest Hills Drive and Born Sinner. The only thing that worries me about this album is it’s playback value. It’s doing well for now but we’ll see it’s longevity in my playlist as the year goes along.
What are your thoughts on this album? Did the project meet your expectations? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Top 3 Songs: My top three songs on this album are:
- “a p p l y i n g . p r e s s u r e”
- a m a r i
- l e t . g o . m y . h a n d- Ft Bas & 6lack
Rating: I’m giving The Off-Season a rating of 8.5/10
The build up to the album with the documentary and the interlude was really good and the album met my expectations. There’s not a song on here that’s bad to me. Can’t wait to hear The Fall Off!
What are your thoughts on this album? Did the project meet your expectations? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
