However, lack of a way out encourages him to continue in his current actions and mentality, even to his detriment. He also exhibits thoughts of ambition, wanting to move to a different location where he can be more productive, and a generally better person.
Over the jazzy piano and bass, Cole, aided by his usual multiple layers of background vocals, sings about another existential crisis, wondering how long he can survive with his mentality. This album is definitely meant to be played in its entirety during the car ride on a gloomy day.
Cole (or whoever his persona is for this album) seems to be narrating a story in which he tries to get next to a girl that isn’t single, claiming that he’s more suited for her because he has “bigger dreams.” And just like “Exchange,” this song seems like banger, not because of a lack of depth, but because of the simple flow, head-knocking beat and hook, and heavy base. Oh, snap, this is over the Bryson Tiller “Exchange” beat (which is actually just a slowed-down loop from whatever sample used in like the only song Charles Hamilton ever dropped). Have you ever seen a mothaf*ckin’ ribbon in the sky?Īlso, Cole touches on the subject of whether it’s more meaningful to burn bright and die young, or to live a long, unfulfilled life, drawing parallels with many of the late great rappers whom never got the recognition they deserved until after the fact. Have you ever seen your brother go to prison as you cry? Producing no singles and having no features, the album, which would go on to be certified double Platinum, presented Cole from a drastically different perspective than the narratives of his previous projects, addressing themes such as the dynamics of leaving home to follow one’s dreams, blind to the struggles of those left behind, returning home to see the drought in juxtaposition to one’s success, and the general status of being famous, in all of its gilded nature. While Born Sinner was a concise project that solidified Cole’s place among the pantheon of new-age rappers within the Hip-hop community, it wasn’t until 2014 Forest Hills Drive that Cole received the props he’d always deserved from the general public. Much more self-contained than the first Born Sinner more easily fell into the category of a concept album, addressing a few different themes throughout the entirety of the album, including duality, loss of faith, both in oneself and in institutions, and the effects of money on the psyche of both society and the individual. While the song structure and lyricism on the first album was a good start, Born Sinner easily surpassed it, both sonically, and with its content.
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