The Singles Jukebox

Sample W once, shame on you….

[Video][Website]
[3.22]

Jonathan Bogart: I don’t know if I can really blame this kind of self-aggrandizing white-knight misogyny on Drake, but the pass he gets by presenting himself as performing warts-and-all stream-of-consciousness certainly seems to be echoed here. Except J. Cole fancies himself “political,” which makes it all so much worse.
[3]

Micha Cavaseno: There’s plenty of Role Modelz for this dude to learn how to stop being so impossibly boring as a rapper and producer, but he doesn’t seem like the type to notice. Also, I can’t imagine a worse way to flip the Earl Stevens hook than Jermaine’s achieved here, both in his terrible singing voice and in his smugness.
[1]

Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa: The “fuck Hollywood” feeling is a tired rap trope, but from J. Cole’s perspective, that feeling comes across as a more nuanced reflection on his own rise to fame (not that nuanced, though). The slow beat is strong although a bit stale, and the Major Lazer sample was creatively flipped, but it’s the Fresh Prince references and the awesome George W. Bush clip what won me over. That’s a great way to transition into a bridge right there.
[6]

Alfred Soto: He doesn’t want real ho’s, but if he faces facts he’ll admit that “she’s shallow but the pussy deep.” To affirm his commitment to reality, he stops the track dead with a George W. Bush sample. George W. Bush. Reality.
[2]

Andy Hutchins: All three points are for the version including GOB Bush’s (Jeb is Michael) “fool me, won’t get fooled again” very briefly being played on radio. The rest of this is retrograde respectability rap horseshit that wastes even the obvious truths about role models and women who “don’t wanna be saved” that would have been available to Jermaine if he weren’t busy trying to hold up a Will Smith vanity project created by the dude whose horrific New Yorker “satire” pieces your mom loves as the aspirational touchstone of his life. And I don’t know whether Cole claiming King as a Dreamvillain or making his premature ejaculation a dark joke is more tone-deaf.
[3]

Brad Shoup: Not giving George W. a feature credit is only the biggest of Cole’s aesthetic missteps. That seafaring jaunt of a trumpet line should have never stopped; instead, he paws at a piano for unforgivable stretches. Then there’s the whole there’s-two-types-of-women routine, which is so stale at this point it’s no wonder Genius flipped for it.
[3]

Katherine St Asaph: I can’t think of a better metaphor for J. Cole’s personality than parroting a George W. Bush sample, so job… well, it’s done.
[4]

Will Adams: Last time around, J. Cole’s recounting of his first sexual experience caused actual discomfort. So hearing him bemoan fake LA girls instead is at least a small victory, though still not totally satisfying. 
[4]

Madeleine Lee: This is why there should be a Twitter mute function for everything.
[3]