Following his 2015 marriage to longtime girlfriend Melissa, Cole gives us a peek into his domestic life. This dovetails into the standout track “Foldin Clothes.” “I wanna fold clothes for you/I wanna make you feel good,” he says. “I never felt so alive,” he hums, his voice cracking with feeling. 1” has the rapper gushing about a romantic love. While most celebrities clamor to social media or glossy covers to share significant personal milestones, Cole only drops sonic hints of his maturation and vulnerability. Cole for '4 Your Eyez Only' Album Artwork Photographer Anthony Supreme Talks Working With J.
“To die a young legend or live a long life unfulfilled?” he wails on “Immortal.” “Cause they only feel you after you gone, or I’ve been told/And now I’m caught between bein’ heard and gettin’ old/Damn, death creepin’ in my thoughts lately.” “I’m searching and praying and hoping for something I know I’m gonna see it… Lord.” Despite critical and commercial acclaim, he grapples with his mortality and what he’ll leave behind. The rapper is self-reflective, digging into his headspace. “I see the rain powering down, before my very eyes,” he moans against a jazz-tinged background on the title track. Sonically minimalistic, he forgoes catchy hooks and big features for a stripped-down, lyrically-focused album that delves into entangled and complex emotions about life, death and legacy.Ĥ Your Eyez Only is a personal conversation, first and foremost, with Cole himself. “For Whom The Bell Tolls” opens the rapper’s most melancholy and introspective effort to date.
John Donne’s quote about the interconnectedness of humanity - in life and death - is omnipresent on J. “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls it tolls for thee.”