Cole World: The Sideline Story – J. Cole

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2011	Cole World: The Sideline Story	J. Cole	★★½	57	Hip-Hop

On Cole World: The Sideline Story, J. Cole shows a base level of consistency and competence in all areas of his art: his lyrics, his production and his ability to craft an overall narrative across an entire work, and weave similar themes in and out of tracks. 

Cole spends the bulk of his first record telling the audience who he is, where he’s from, who his heroes are and how thankful he is to have an opportunity to pursue his dreams and to finally show the world what he’s capable of. The storytelling is autobiographical and sounds authentic, with specific anecdotes about things like getting the call about being signed to a record label right before being pulled over and arrested.

But the lyricism here is pretty basic and doesn’t leave much to the imagination, its strength being that concepts are easy to follow and digest. His production is also pretty heavy handed at times, sounding almost like he’s trying to build a movie soundtrack for his life, with dramatic string sections, sentimental piano melodies and soft guitar textures. It makes the stories feel like they’re a concept for an episode of Boondocks. It’s a bit too much at times, especially with the simplicity of some of the stories. 

Still, the concepts on the album are more mature and real than the majority of his peers back in the early 2010s, and he shows a self awareness of his faults and situation.  “In The Morning,” which features Drake, is a pretty standard track about hooking up with a woman, but the following song then goes into the responsibility that comes with an unplanned pregnancy and feeling guilty about trying to convince a woman that abortion might be the best option for everyone. This is then followed by “Nobody’s Perfect,” featuring Missy Elliot.  

A less extreme version of this also takes place on “Sideline Story,” where folks kind of doubt J. Cole’s chances at making it big, and ask him why Jay Z hasn’t given him a shoutout if Jay’s apparently so impressed with his work (Jay is credited for giving Cole his first big shot). That’s followed up by “Mr. Nice Watch,” a song with a Jay Z feature, where Cole brags a bit about his newfound fame and wealth over an aggressive beat. 

There are a handful of tracks here that I like a lot — “Dollar And A Dream,” “Can’t Get Enough,” “Sideline  Story,” “Nobody’s Perfect” and “Work Out” (even if it was played out on the radio) — although I wouldn’t say any of them are my favorites of the era, or close to my favorites compared to Cole’s future, more impressive catalog.  Still, that connectivity and consistency across the record is appreciated and impressive on a debut record that’s a feel-good story overall.