What happened?
J. Cole is similar to Kanye West: both are rappers/producers; both have rapped about their college experiences (Cole graduated magna cum laude from St. John's; Kanye was a dropout). And both seemingly burst onto the scene with well-received mixtapes, full of dusty soul samples and enough wit to convince you of their talent, despite how raw it sounded. Cole has rapping qualities that are easy to appreciate: a commanding voice that clearly enunciates, a steel coolness to his swag, an ability to balance vulnerability, smarts and greasy talk. His rhymes have a throwback quality to them. 2007's The Come Up, a solid introduction, and the even-better sequel The Warm Up made J. Cole an instant-favorite with many, especially the ones praying for the next Illmatic, Nas' heralded debut LP. Those tapes propelled Cole into a touring entity and eventually earned him the prestigious spot of Jay-Z's first rapper signed to Roc Nation. And then we waited.
Sure, J. Cole didn't completely disappear after his Roc Nation announcement (a Miguel feature, opening spot on Rihanna's tour) but he hasn't been cashing-in on the goodwill he earned from top-shelf tracks such as "Lights Please" and "Grown Simba" either. His first attempt at a single, "Who Dat," lacked the momentous-occasion feel a pure-rap-hit needs (he still has things to learn from Kanye; think "Power" or "Diamonds From Sierra Leone"). Last year, a free, 20-song mixtape titled Friday Night Lights had flashes of brilliance ("Villematic," "In the Morning," "Premeditated Murder") but ultimately felt like a stopgap release. ("Hey buzz, remember me?" "Yes, vaguely …") That was November of last year, and things have remained quiet since. It makes you wonder if that "next Illmatic" pressure — which was real enough for Cole to reference it on FNL ("He said, 'Cole, a little birdie on the low told me you got an Illmatic / Nobody touchin' Nas, n----, this more like 'Villematic'") — has a kid feeling the heat. "Disgusting" is that theory's evidence.
Produced by J. Cole, "Disgusting" is built around a warm but unremarkable synth-bassline that sounds like B-level Be-era Kanye. It's an anemic beat in need of seasoning. Yet more worrisome is Cole's delivery and lyrics: the performance is a strange hybrid of Kanye and Lil Wayne, where each line feels fueled only by sheer audacity, not clever construction or lines that "say something." (Wayne's latest single, "John," is all boldface, slow-delivered boasts.) This feels like foreign territory for Cole, as if he's dumbing down his normally heady approach with hopes to double his dollars. I'm not buying, especially when the track is built on the fecal, another tired terrain of Wayne ("N----, eat a d--- / We the s---, no flushing / N----, that's disgusting" is part of the actual hook) and clunkers (I'd expect "And yes, her ass clappin' so that's a round of applause" from Drake, not Cole).
Before he released "Disgusting," Cole tweeted "Single done," which sits there like a briefcase you can't open. Will it have more punch than "Who Dat"? Will Cole ditch the "Disgusting"-flow and return to his more natural, quicker-paced delivery? Will this album ever come out and will it even matter by then? Cole is simply too talented for his debut not to matter, but it remains to be seen why it'll be noteworthy. The unrealistic "next Illmatic" claim was already worthy of an eye-roll. Now the odds are really stacked against him.