After spending some time on getting his Dreamville team to the top and a short-lived beef with artist Noname, J. Cole has returned to the studio for his newest release, “Lewis Street”.
The project only contains two songs, but both pack a different sort of punch. The first song off of “Lewis Street”, titled “The Climb Back” features a beautifully crafted beat with a distorted vocal sample that compliments the choppy aspect of his flow perfectly. His choice of words touch on his route to becoming a rapper as well as focussing on current race issues as stated in the chorus,
“Everything come back around full circle (N-gga, gotta go for mines)
Why do lies sound pleasant, but the truth hurtful?
Everybody gotta cry once in a while
But how long will it take ‘fore you smile?
This is that come-back-to-life shit
My n-ggas pick me up and we gon’ light the city up as if the sun had the night shift
And paint the town red for my n-gga found dead too soon
Now I know why they call it blue moon”
The track also highlights Cole’s lyrical prowess. With lines like “You’ll see how i flip like exclamation points”, J. Coles use of word play adds to the intellectual properties of the song.
The second song off of the project is called “Lion King on Ice”, and is a little more straight forward than the previous. On another masterfully produced beat, J. Cole seems to be experimenting with newer styles of rap. With a much simpler flow, he employs a high level of autotune on his words that he rarely ever uses. On the surface, the song is very similar to ‘mumble rap’, but the lyrics remind you that he is still the conscious Cole that we all know and love.
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