J Cole - Friday Night Lights (ACB Dark Night's Review)

Click after the jump to see Dark Night's (and DARK NIGHT'S ONLY) feelings on J Coles latest offering!

DISCLAIMER: I ORIGINALLY HAD THIS UP WITH NO DISCLAIMER, BUT DUE TO THE IGNORANCE LEFT IN THE C-SECTION, I MUST SAY THIS. IF YOUR LOOKING FOR AN UNBIASED REVIEW FROM A BIG TIME J. COLE FAN, WHO GIVES HIS HONEST OPINION ON WHAT HE FEELS ABOUT THIS MIXTAPE, CONTINUE READING. IF YOUR THE TYPE OF PERSON WHO THINKS ANYTHING J. COLE DOES IS THE WORK OF GOD, AND ONLY WANTS TO HEAR ME PRAISE HIM FOR THE NEXT 10 PARAGRAPHS, THEN LEAVE NOW, TURN BACK TO GOOGLE, AND SEARCH FOR ANOTHER REVIEW.

I have for the most part, lost all faith in the "flavor of the month" hip-hop artists that come and go nowadays. Every single one of them comes out with tons of hype out of nowhere (Bought and payed for by the label), and everyone seems to ride their dick because it's the cool thing to do. I can honestly say that since 2003 the only artists I've grown to become major fans of are Lupe Fiasco, who is currently in my all time top 5, the Brooklyn wordsmith and super hip-hop aficionado Skyzoo, and New Orleans second coming of Mos Def, Jay Electronica. I put J. Coles "Warm Up" mixtape on my iPod the day it came out, but I finally listened to it for the first time this past spring, and to say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. I was so shocked to hear just how dope the Fayetteville lyricist, I couldn't stop listening to it for weeks on end. He reminded me of 2Pac, Nas, Joe Budden, Beanie Sigel all in one, and he wasn't caught up in talking about his swag, or his cars, or his money, or how he wanted to make sweet love to your girl, he proved he's a rappers rapper. Every song had a message, every song had a concept, every song should've been there and there were no throwaways. It was truly, a classic mixtape.

Since that point, J. Cole had a feature on his boss' Blueprint 3, went on tour with Jay-Z, been featured on quite a few r&b artists singles, and has currently prepping his ultra anticipated debut album that's currently untitled, while dropping leak after leak that was full of flames. He decided to release Friday Night Lights to hold his fans over until the album, and I must say, I would have rather him hold this tape back and just hold all the material for the album, because this is not the same J. Cole I became a fan of.

Starting off is Jermaine reciting a poem over beautiful piano work that fits perfect, with him closing it out saying "What good is being the one, if you're the only one who knows it?". Coming in "Too Deep For The Intro" over an Erykah Badu sample. Nothing special here, I expected with a title like that it would indeed be a very deep record, but it comes up rather shallow. Nothing wrong with the record, but nothing special either.

Next up is "Before I'm Gone". This is the J. Cole I love. Bars like "I got dreams, bigger than you're whole team!" remind you why J. Cole is so hungry. A very dope hook on this as well, with Cole showing his major love for his City and you, the listener.

The next few songs on the mixtape is where it takes it's horrible turn for the worst. A complete waste of time is "Back To The Topic". The J. Cole of The Warm Up was trying to stop smoking weed, and drinking liqueur to ease his pain. The J. Cole of "Friday Night Lights" is smoking weed for no reason and drinking liqueur because, well why the fuck not? More bragging about fucking hot women and taking yours, here. What a difference a year makes. But what can you expect when the opening bars are "Feeling like a puppet and the devil is gipetto/". This is so much deeper than what it seems, but that's a whole nother' topic. And I just can't go without mentioning this face palmer "Girl I do it to the maximum, Nissan". *Sighs*.

Next up is "You Got It" featuring DC native and fellow partner in rhyme Wale. The last time these two linked up, it was a classic record about the two trying to break into the game on Wales debut album with "Beautiful Bliss". Rather than making another great hip-hop record, the first of a few pop infused record for the ladies is made. With both Wale & J. Cole professing there love for the ladies, and how they wanna treat them, and beat them, and with absolutely abysmal bars like "Shit you so bad, wish your daddy could still spank ya". Very disappointing.

Another dope, but nothing special record is next, with the recycled "Villematic", over Kanye Wests' "Devil In A Blue Dress". Coming in right after is another reason why J. Cole reminds me so much of Mr. Shakur. Borrowing his often used hook from "Hail Mary" on "Enchanted" Cole talks about the ills of his growing up how he did, but it's truly Omen who steals the show, painting a horrifyingly vivid picture of ghetto life, and line steals like "I think I'm in the dungeon, fam, I see low green (Cee-Lo Green). Another highlight comes right after in the form of "Blow Up". It opens with Cole harmonizing "This is a song for my hatersssss" and it is just great to say the least. This is the same uplifting type of record that Cole shocked me with on the "Warm Up".

Coming in back to back are "Higher" and "In The Morning" with Pop Musics favorite Canadian "Drake" respectively. Both songs are basically the same exact song, and both are basically the same song you heard 4 prior on "You Got It" with Wale. Higher was leaked months ago and is Cole once again talking about loving a chick. "In The Morning" is quite embarrassing as a hip-hop fan.

Since their Inception as main stream artists, Drake & J. Cole have been compared similar to how Nas & Jay-Z were compared in the previous generation. Up to this point Drake was the world wide loved pop star that could do know wrong, make every lady drop there panties, and drop hit after hit as the featured artist, or the main attraction. J. Cole was the superstar uncaged, sitting back destroying all competition with his true masterful lyrical ability , and sitting as the under dog, where despite being lyrically light years ahead of Drake, he received no recognition. On a song where Cole would finally show the world how much better he was, he decides to make a Drake featuring J. Cole, instead of J. Cole featuring Drake song, once again talking about making sweet love to the ladies. It's not necessarily that this song is so horrible, it's that we heard the exact same song already 3 times up to this point, yet Cole continues to beat a dead horse. And the fact that he chose to make this type of record instead of embarrassing Drake for the fraud that he is, is a big disappointment to me in it's own right. But I'm sure you'll be seeing girls across the nation with the hook Cole borrowed from William Holla himself "Can I hit it in the morning" with heart signs for J Cole & Drake in there facebook status' and twitter updates for months to come. Industry 1, Hip-Hop 0.

After those 71 mile long steps backwards, Cole takes 72 mile steps forward on the next two records. "2Face" is an introspective record questioning why we lust for material things, why God allows things to happen to people in the ghetto, and why God has brought success to Cole yet he still focus' on the ills in life. The last verse, which is Cole talking to the listener explaining to them a time he had raw sex and caught virus is extremely heart felt, and you can feel the pain in J. Coles voice. This is by far the standout record on the album to this point, and maybe even the whole album. But he doesn't let up there, with track 12, "Autograph". Autograph is another uplifting record and this is clearly where J. Cole is in his comfort zone, and there's nothing wrong with that. The opening bars are "They say anything is possible/you gotta dream like you never seen obstacles/" , and that should tell you the feel of the rest of the song. This is a beautiful record, and definitely a top 5 song on this tape.

Next up is interesting, it's not really a song, more an interlude, on "Best Friend". It sounds like J. Cole was just experimenting, as he only spits for less than 30 seconds over the Aaliyah classic. I don't think it's fair to even consider this a song on here since the majority of it is all Aaliyah.

A hypocrite's dream comes in the form of "Cost Me A Lot". On the "Warm Up" Cole could give a rats ass on what car he was driving, "Friday Night Lights" J cole, wants the big body whip with the wood grain in it, and how "I don't love no material thang/but I love the feelings they brang/". This is very confusing to me. Seems like Cole is definitely in the right house though, because this is the same type of thing I would expect from Kanye, ala his "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" song where his video images of the blood diamond industry flash, yet the song is professing his love for the high priced stone. I'm sure once again you'll see facebook statuses and twitter updates through the roof with quotes from this record, but it really is such an opposite of what J. Cole does in his comfort zone, it's so clear that these types of records are not made for Cole himself, but to please his label.

"Premeditated Murder" leaked months ago, I loved it then, I love it now. A phenomenal string driven beat and excellent percussion come from Cole, with him just going in over the beat for 4 minutes. The hook is pure bliss, and this is another standout record. "Home For The Holidays" is next, and it's a record I don't really know how to describe. It's a killer horn driven beat this time, and all I can really say is just peep the record, because I'm really on the fence about it.

"Love Me Not" is yet another song for the ladies. I don't really have any feelings for this song, but it is the best of the 5 songs geared toward the female crowd.

As soon as "See World" dropped I was instantly excited because it samples one of my all time favorite samples "Living In Your Love" by Earl Klugh. It's been sampled by everyone from Royce Da 5'9 to Ja Rule, & Cole flipped it wonderfully, with another great record. Starting off with quotes from a child murder case in his hometown, Cole pours his heart out about how cold the world is. Once again you can feel his pain as he raps "Six shots of hennesy, I'm still going strong/please numb me from the bullshit thats going on/that girl was 5 years old, that they just murdered/and did some wicked shit to her that was unheard of, you fucking coward/ain't gotta tell em' go to hell/cause that's the shit that makes them other n*ggas sick in jail/".

The album closes with "Farewell", a song questions how he will be remembered when he passes, and prayers to his homies that are currently waiting at heavens gates. This is a great closer, and again, this is Cole at his best.

The bonus track is "Looking For Trouble", which was apart of Kanyes G.O.O.D. Friday series, and the beat is electrifying to say the least. No one was wack on this, but Cole out shined everybody by galaxies, despite borrowing a bar from Slaughterhouses Crooked I. I must say one thing though, Kanye continues to amaze me, and not in a good way. It's amazing for someone to constantly do things like rhyme the words "raunchy" & "crunchy", which he does here, yet people think he's such a master of lyricism.

In conclusion, at it's best Friday Night Lights is exactly what you'd expect from J. Cole, shitting on the competition, proving why he should be in every hip-hop heads top 5 without question. At it's worst, it proves J. Cole is currently on the path of sacrificing his freedom and creativity, for money and widespread success. As a hip-hop fan I pray that he'll take the former path, and focus more on what he did as an artist last year. But as Cole continues to draw attention, I can't expect him to not cater more towards the fame side of things, especially while hanging out with people like Jay-Z, Kanye & Drake.

I felt going in, that this could easily contend for not just mixtape of the year, but album of the year aswell, along with Joe Budden's Mood Muzik 4, but after a few listens, Cole needs to re-evaluate his career, and see if he want's to be remembered as a guy who made tons of money, or as one of the best MC's of all time.

Final Rating: 3/5

Side Note: Why the hell are Big Seans vocals so loud on "Looking For Trouble"? How does Kanye have the budget he has, yet all his songs are still mixed improperly every time.