Listening to J. Cole is like exposing oneself to an ancient library that belongs to one of the great philosophers. Full of knowledge and life lessons, the new album KOD (Kids On Drugs, King Overdosed and Kills Our Demons.) does not disappoint and maintains J Coles pure essence of originality. KOD is one of J Cole’s best albums as it strives to open young minds to the realities of the world. Anyone interested in the broad genre of Hip Hop will find KOD a piece of art. Its beats are wavy and original and the lyrics is full of different messages and meanings. The album works like a intricate perfect machine, everything fits like a puzzle.

The main point of this album was to get inside of the head of the new generation of the ‘mumble rappers’ and as he critiques them he also sympathises with them only. He also talks about and ironically confronts new era problems for example liking a girl in Instagram and not knowing her. He ironically mocks this as he has previously raps about real problems like discrimination and racism and is one of the leading pioneers to end all of the hate as he speaks the “truth” to the new generations. This album has a new angle to J Cole as he wanted to prove he could “mumble rap” better than most of the new artist that discriminate him for being “boring” and old school. Nevertheless he definitely proves his worthiness in the rap game as the album  broke streaming records for both apple music and spotify. He broke the record for the most streams in the first day of release, benching Canada famous rapper Drake, something truly admirable as he announced the album only three days before realising it and didn’t even advertise it on any platforms.

Getting to the best tracks, my personal favorites where “ATM”, “Kevin’s Heart”, and “1985” even though I thought all tracks where indeed hits and worthy for any rap lover to listen to. The first track mentioned “ATM” talks about how rappers these days only care for money and nothing else and how they are so shallow. “A million dollars, I count up in intervals/Without it I’m miserable/Don’t wanna fall off so I’m all in my bag/Thankin’ God like it’s biblical/I know it’s gon’ solve every problem I have/I balled on the principal.” Here he talks about how his success has made him a lot of money however in these bars “Without it I’m miserable. I know it’s gon’ solve every problem I have”. He says it sarcastically as in the past he has referred to money as a burden and that after his success he has realized money has to do nothing with success he also encourages his fans to find pleasure in “real” things like “love”.

“Kevin’s Heart” is not such a lyrical song and hit instead J Cole goes for something that would be unorthodox in his style and assimilates more to the modern era rap, this song is yet another hit with a funky beat and a catchy chorus. Definitely something new for the artist which lets his fans know he can absolutely destroy the game in multiple styles.

Finally “1985” addresses new era rappers specially new hip hop star, Lil Pump. This is also the intro to a new project J Cole has been working on called the fall off. This song approaches a diss track kind of vibe but instead of insulting it feels more like a father lecturing his son. “I must say, by your songs I’m unimpressed, hey/But I love to see a Black man get paid/And plus, you havin’ fun and I respect that/But have you ever thought about your impact?” Here J Cole talks about Lil Pumps impact on society and even though he likes to see someone of race succeed he believes he could be singing about something more substantial. Instead of the ungenius and idiotic Lil pump lyrics: “Gucci Gang Gucci Gang Gucci Gang Gucci Gang Gucci Gang”

Comparing KOD to J Cole’s previous projects it’s definitely a very different wave and style, nevertheless he does not fail to deliver a substantial meaning that make his fans wonder and question life. Personally I liked J Cole’s past album 4 Your Eyez Only  more because I enjoy the old school ill lyricist style more than the new wavy type. Nevertheless KOD is still a piece of art and anyone who likes meaningful and rap music will definitely find this refreshing album enjoyable, and anyone new to J Cole will most definitely get hooked on the rappers wave.