Review of J Cole's Powerful Album "KOD"

By Andreas Fanos on April 23, 2018

“There are many ways to deal with this pain. Choose wisely,” are the wise words spoken on the Intro of J. Cole‘s “KOD,” that linger throughout the idea of the album, and that is falling into the path of addiction and dragging others along with it. It also shows our messed up culture and is finally a project that does not glorify drugs and pills but exposes it and the effects it can cause on the community and on families. The loss of innocence was one of the main ideas that linger further on in the album.

I honestly was not a fan of J. Cole because I thought he was boring and his production was not that great at all. This album changed my mind, as I really enjoyed this work of art and the messages behind it. The production on this album is minimalistic, but it fits J. Cole’s rapping. The album is a good length at 12 tracks clocking in at 43 minutes. With J. Cole’s style, only one man is featured on two tracks named KiLL edward, but it sounds a lot like a pitched down version of himself, which it very well could be.

“KOD” has three meanings for the title outlined by the artist himself on Twitter – Kids on Drugs, King Overdosed, Kill Our Demons. For myself, I see it as Kids on Drugs and Kill Our Demons as J. Cole highlights all the inner demons we all face and how we try to mask our pain with drugs and pills. The beautifully crafted cover art expresses the album’s central theme with a king looking like J. Cole with hollow eyes with a skeleton at his heart with children sipping lean and smoking concealed right under him.

This was the perfect time to release this album with it coming out on 4/20, a day where people enjoy smoking and doing shenanigans. It is a day where people might take smoking too far and ruin themselves.

Photo taken by me on Apple Music

To start, tracks “ATM,” “Once an Addict,” and “Window Pain,” highlight Cole’s nice flow and they are some of the best songs on this album, in my opinion.

Track “Photograph” shows the disconnect of love in today’s age with looking up pictures of women and trying to seduce them off not even knowing them personally and sending DM’s to attract. It shows that there are no romantic and normal relationships going on in today’s modern era. Powerful lines are stated in the song, “Can’t see my heart, it don’t fit (yeah), don’t think I’m built for this s** (yeah).”

Title track “KOD,” shows J. Cole’s nice flow equally, “How I grew up, only few would’ve loved, member I got my first view of the blood. I’m hangin’ out and they shoot up the club. My homie got pharmaceutical plug.” In this track, it implies that love is the strongest drug of them all and lists his early life.

On “ATM,” he raps with an insane flow with a nice beat saying, “Proceed with caution, I heard if you chase it only results in a hole in your heart. F** it, I take the whole cake and I won’t leave a portion. Thank God mama couldn’t afford the abortion.” These are some powerful sentiments from the rapper. Another part of the song showcases Cole’s nice flow as he raps, “I know that it’s difficult. I’m stackin’ the paper, it’s sort of habitual. I blow the residual.  And f** yo bi** like its part of my ritual, pardon the visual. But money, it give me a hard-on it’s typical. I want it in physical.” He continues this killer flow throughout the song over a cha-ching counting money beat. This is easily one of the best songs on the album besides “Window Pain.”

The only track I did not enjoy was “Motiv8″ which I thought didn’t fit and I did not enjoy the lyrics. “BRACKETS” sees Cole poke fun at the fact of how much money he gets taxed on his pay, and that the government and politicians instead of using the money to help improve schools and build bridges, take it and pocket it, giving it to gun manufacturers, which has a total reaction to evil and death in communities. J. Cole even questions if there will be another African-American president. It is another powerful message.

“Once an Addict” confronts J. Cole’s past with his mother being addicted to alcohol, while he tries to find himself, but can not escape his own issues and his families. His stepfather leaving left a scar and his mother had to deal with the pain with alcohol and succumbed to depression as a result. The introduction to this very song confronts God in a different light saying, “Sometimes I think pain is just a lack of understanding. If we could only understand it all, would we feel no pain? God must feel no pain.”

God is mentioned a couple of times to the album in fact. “Window Pain,” confronts this with a boy who is shot to death, where the cousin believes that these bad things happen because God is teaching a lesson and the world is starting over again. God wants to see us. The song shows the loss of innocence to children today and it’s a very sad story where an innocent child is killed. The chorus on it is the best in the whole album as Cole raps “All I ever wanted was to hear them bi*** holler back, get some money plus respect and now look, I got all of that. All I wanna do is see my granny on the other side. All I wanna do is kill the man that made my momma cry. All I wanna do is touch a platinum plague and celebrate.” J. Cole talks to the cousin who witnessed her family member get killed sentimentally and that he would not forget her, which he didn’t.

“Closer 1985 (Intro to “The Fall Off”)” disses modern rappers spreading bad messages where the artist believes it won’t last and pokes fun at the fact that they are spending money on jewelry, tattoos, and drugs, but not necessities like a house and helping family members. They are not caring about their overall impact on the culture and Cole confronts the fact that music has changed. The last track could be a sign for another album that could arrive later. J. Cole overall has dropped a very good album that has powerful messages and a theme that depicts the evils of addiction and fighting our inner demons. In conclusion, “KOD” is one of the best albums of the year so far.

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