By Jamil Weeks

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind for Jermaine Cole. He went from starting a rollout to arguably the most anticipated rap albums of the year to being swept up in a battle with Kendrick Lamar in a matter of days. Cole would later find himself to be the subject of ire by hip-hop purists for the apology that shocked the world at his own Dreamville Festival. Cole has become a polarizing figure, with half of hip hop fans excoriating his name on social media platforms with venomous slander as if a ring of rabid foam was forming in the corner of their mouths while their twitter fingers ran rampant. The other half, referred to as “stans”, praise Cole for staying true to himself and not allowing his spirit to be disturbed by a forced beef with a fellow comrade for others' entertainment. While everybody has seemingly weighed in on the matter, lost in the shuffle has been the music. Cole’s surpriste mixtape, Might Delete Later, dropped without warning last Friday and has shaken things up more than the recent New York earthquake. The 12-song mixtape was meant as an appetizer for The Fall Off, which is slated to drop some time this year hopefully. Instead, public dissension over Cole waving the white flag to Kendrick has taken center stage. Whether than weigh in on a tiring subject at this point, let us take time to bring it back to the music. Is Might Delete Later any good?

Might Delete Later features Cole rapping with a ferocious hunger that we have not seen since his pre-Roc Nation days when he proclaimed himself to be Young Simba. You can feel the energy Cole exudes coursing through your veins through each mixtape selection. Cole has spent over a decade building up momentum with each album, and has worked his way up the totem pole to the point where he was considered one of the greatest out of the current crop of rappers, at least in the mainstream. The music presented on Might Delete Later supports those claims, despite recent events sabotaging his impetus. Cole storms out the gate with fiery bars on the opening track “Pricey”, with lines like “breaking news, I’ve officially entered my prime/which is really interesting, this is the point where a rapper would typically start to decline “. Cole goes on to boast about his place in today’s rap game on “Crocodile Tearz” stating “it’s me, not two, not three/the uno, G.O.A.T., I need my fee”. On the Cam’ron-assisted “Ready ‘24”, Cole blisters over a remake of The Diplomats’ 2000s anthem “I’m Ready”, where Cole boldly proclaims himself the greatest in the game with the vigor of a young man. Perhaps the crown jewel of the mixtape is “Pi” featuring Daylyt and ironically TDE’s Ab Soul, where Cole absolutely blacks out in the booth spitting a certified verse of the year contender. Cole raps with a chip on his shoulder as someone who feels slighted by being in the shadows of Kendrick and Drake for most of his career. With this mixtape, Cole raps as if he is appalled that the world is just now realizing his greatness.

Cole’s argument for the crown crescendos with the closing reply to Kendrick’s shot at Cole on Metro and Future’s “Like That”. Cole reluctantly returns fire on “7 Minute Drill”. While the song was initially met with mixed reviews from rap fans, the song matches the energy of Kendrick’s verse and served as a warning to Kendrick of what was to come, at least before the apology. Cole delivers ominous rhymes while lowkey extending an olive branch to his opponent with lines like “Lord, don’t make me have to smoke this n**** ‘cause I f*** with him/but push come to shove, on this mic, I will humble him”. Cole does his best Jay-Z impression, quoting lines from “The Takeover” as he breaks down Kung Fu Kenny’s discography. Admittedly not the most original idea for a diss track. But “7 Minute Drill” was never meant to be the knock-out punch most rap fans were hoping for, like a “No Vaseline”. Instead, it was Cole sparring akin to Mayweather in the ring with defensive pugilistic disses. If the apology never happened, it appeared as if Cole was saving the real disrespect for an official name-dropping diss that would have probably ended up on The Fall Off. You could tell Cole’s heart was not really into the battle, comparing himself to Nino Brown on that rooftop about to pull the trigger on G-Money. Rather or not Cole reneges on his apology, the would-be battle between him and Kendrick was shaping up to be something special. As ambitious as the song was, it seemed like not even a Conductor Williams beat switch with the second verse was enough for Cole to definitively win that first round.

Outside of the braggadocious banter, Cole still manages to balance out the mixtape with records that caters to his day one fans while sprinkling in conscious rhymes throughout. On the laidback London drill record “H.Y.B”, Cole is joined by Bas and Central Cee where he arrogantly talks to his haters about if he was not faithful to his wife, he could easily steal their ladies from underneath them with ease. On the love ode “Fever, Cole opens his heart on this personal and honest record about craving a deeper love. Cole excels on records like “Fever”, reminding fans on how he built his career by rapping on the type of emotions that regular people can feel. Cole also excels at giving the listener pieces of himself, inviting us as the listener into his world. Songs like “Stickz N Stonez” highlight this as Cole raps about rising above the negativity from his environment growing up in Fayetteville, NC as he proclaims he is “reaching’ for a higher frequency”. On one of the project’s released singles “3001”, Cole questions the validity of materialism that consumes us in society, suggesting he has never felt freer since stripping himself of worldly possessions.

Might Delete Later is one of J. Cole’s best releases and shows that Cole’s talent is aging like fine wine after over 20 years since releasing his first song. Cole is as lyrically sharp as he has ever been and raps with an intensity of someone that has something to prove. The apology to Kendrick has since soured the momentum he was riding on for the past couple of years. Listening to this mixtape in the wake of his surrender to Kendrick this past weekend, one cannot help but look at some of his cocky claims to the throne differently. The swagger that saturated his bombastic lyrics ring hollow in hindsight to Cole’s controversial apology. It is a shame because Cole is rhyming as good as he ever has in his career. Might Delete Later should have been a benchmark in Cole’s career as a pre-celebratory release to tide the fans over before dropping The Fall Off. I still believe in J. Cole. Call me a stan. Call me a homer. But, I feel Cole on his best day can go toe to toe with anyone in the game, including K.Dot. Right now, it is open season on Cole with a faction of rap fans feeling betrayed by Cole like he was an illegitimate father that broke his promise after failing to show up to their soccer game when he said he would. I think this release will age well, and I expect good things from The Fall Off. The stakes for The Fall Off have risen. The album almost must be a definitive classic for Cole to get back in the good graces of his detractors. However, as a native of Fayetteville, I know what kind of grit people that come from my hometown are made of and remain optimistic about The Fall Off. The best is still yet to come from Cole and only time will tell how his apology ages.