On April 5,  J. Cole released his newest album, “Might Delete Later.” This album followed the release of Metro Boomin and Future’s “Like That,” in which Kendrick Lamar takes a hit at Cole and Drake by saying, “It’s just big me.” This is a direct response to Cole’s claim in his “First Person Shooter,” collaboration with Drake, of there being a “Big Three” in the rap industry consisting of Lamar, Drake, and Cole. The entire album is Cole’s rushed and panicked response to prove to Lamar that he is still at the top of the rap game.

Cole directly attacks Lamar in “7 Minute Drill,” the last song on the album. He claims that Lamar “fell off like the Simpsons” and directly calls his music “tragic.” Despite Cole removing this song from streaming services and even publicly announcing that releasing the song was “lame,” his weak writing shined through in the song. The verse lacked depth, polish, and lyrical complexity. Similar to the rest of the album, this song felt rushed and didn’t have any intricate storytelling or wordplay. It felt like Cole was holding back and the listener expected more in his response to Lamar.

“7 Minute Drill” wasn’t the only song in the album that was a huge swing and miss. Despite being catchy, the song “Fever” left audiences disappointed with its clear autotuned sound. It’s obvious that Cole was trying to showcase his versatility through this song; however, his voice doesn’t quite match up with music and felt like a burden to listen to. It almost felt like Cole was trying to impersonate Drake. This makes the song completely unoriginal and strips Cole from his branded uniqueness. 

The album did have a short list of good moments. The song “Ready ‘24” has a creative and impressive beat. However, Cole’s lyrics once again fail to make an impact and unfortunately, ruin whatever he had going in that song. “Stickz N Stonez”’ has an old-school hip-hop beat that makes Cole somewhat recognizable again. The only song from this whole album with meaningful lyrics is “Trae The Truth in Ibiza.” In this song, Cole talks about his struggle with perfectionism over the years and his desire to stray away from that. Through the lyrics, “Somebody feel my pain, please somebody say I changed; all of these years done passed; I hope I ain’t still the same,” Cole’s audience empathizes with him. 

It is evident that J. Cole shouldn’t have released this album in such a hurry. Not only has it proved to be an embarrassing misstep in his career, but the album as a whole also lacked any sort of meaningfulness. The majority of Cole’s songs talk about how great he is, but his not-even-mediocre-at-best music says otherwise.

Cole’s album “Might Delete Later” is available on all streaming platforms.