Without question, J. Cole's debut Cole World: The Sideline Story lives up to it's billing: a glimpse into the world of a talented, ambitious rapper eager to begin his official fifteen minutes. With the spotlight glaring, Cole World is the soundtrack of the rapper's confliction over what to do with it. "So much on my mind, I wonder how it fit in my brain," J. Cole laments on "A Dollar and a Dream III," an accurate preface of the album that follows—a tug-of-war between Cole's natural penchant for storytelling and the weight of expectations that come with rapping for the mainstream.
However, like many albums with high expectations, there is an expected misstep. There's the festive, salsa-sampling ""Cant Get Enough""—where Cole roguishly complains ""I love it when you give me head/I hate it when you give me headaches""—but also the much anticipated though miscalculated Jay-Z collaboration track. ""Mr. Nice Watch"" should be an able follow-up of Cole's successful first collaboration with mentor Jay-Z (The Blueprint 3's ""A Star is Born""), but the combination of a futuristic, Watch the Throne-type beat and a dispassionate Jay feature misses the mark. Coupled with Cole's unsuccessful verses that juggle the questions of morality and luxury that accompany fame (""No more Mr. Nice Guy/hello Mr. Nice Watch,"") the finished product is incoherent, an example of the freshman rapper's ambition getting the better of him. Cole sounds less like the resourceful rapper who used college as a stepping-stone to New York City and to the industry (graduating magna cum laude along the way) and more like an unremarkable rapper afraid to step on his mentor's toes.
Luckily for Cole World, any flaws in scope are overshadowed by the considerable success the rapper achieves once he tightens up his subject matter and focuses his rhymes. Longtime fans will recognize the potency of the familiar ""Lights Please"" (the mix-tape classic that earned Cole his record deal from Jay-Z after one spin,) as Cole deftly alternates between ignorant women, sex and the problems of the world: ""So I tried to show her about the world and about just who we really are/and where we've come and how we still have to go really far, like, ‘Baby look at how we live broke on the boulevard'/but all she ever want me to do is unhook her bra.""
More impressive still is the fact that this soulful dirge isn't even the best of the album. ""Lost Ones,"" Cole's impassioned narration of an argument between young lovers over the prospect of abortion, is a heart-wrenching track that capably echoes Eminem's ""Stan."" It's this—the storytelling contemplative of morality and human nature—paired with the brash and boastful ""Who Dat""'s (the album's first single) of Cole World that justify the favorable comparisons to an early Nas and the iconic Illmatic album.
The sometimes-unfocused nature of this 18-track (15, plus bonuses) debut isn’t due to any lack of talent. Whether he’s rapping for the radio (the Kanye West-sampling “Work Out”) or commenting on the plight of strippers with daddy issues (Daddy’s Little Girl), Cole's skill and passion is obvious. What’s less clear is what he plans on doing with his considerable mic-rocking ability. “I’m coming for what I’m owed,” Cole cryptically proclaims on Cole World’s “Intro”. An album later, you get the sense that he still isn’t sure what that debt is.
