The first thing you see on J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez only album cover is different colors of muted greenery with his back against the viewer’s perspective as if he was looking at his neighborhood.
A string of instruments with orchestral elements then capture your attention before you hear Cole’s “For Whom the Bells Tolls.” It sounds like an impending doom waiting to happen. You hear the sound of soft trumpets, and it sounds like the sound of hardship and sorrow.
Cole always made sense to me even in the smallest glimpse of unfamiliar words he put together. He made me feel as if he saw right through me and understood where I was coming from, like when I moved from one neighborhood to another.
This album is something I relate to as someone coming from South Central. South Central is a very different place compared to Venice, Culver City, Mar Vista and Playa Vista.
Certain things seemed fancier and odd, like seeing a Starbucks a couple blocks from my new school rather than open empty parking lots and graffiti all over buildings.
I often ask my friends I’ve made since I moved to Venice High about their childhood and what they grew up to. Asking them made me realize how different lives turn out to be when they are set to reach a certain level of success and “making it out,” which is a major theme in J. Cole’s work.
My friends grew up with Netflix and babysitters while I laid on my grandmother’s bed watching cable TV when my parents dropped me off to go work. PBS Kids were my favorite and I made sure to always sit on time waiting for Arthur and Sid The Science Kid to come on.
Venice has a whole different feeling to it compared to back home. Venice is cleaner, prettier, and just a whole other atmosphere from what I grew up to. It was eye opening like an animal coming out of hibernation but in this sense I was being introduced into a newer life I never knew that was out here.
Before, I lived in Broadway Manchester, where the things sung in this album were things I saw on a daily basis: sketchy allies of kids selling became the homes of many who needed a way to make a living, dark nights breaking in cars and open windows were easy ways of making money, and what we called, hugging blocks were all some knew.
My dad first introduced me to J.Cole. I heard him blast Cole through the speakers as he cleaned the house while my mom worked in the morning. He would cook his famous jamon con huevo, which probably was the only thing he knew how to cook. He would get the ingredients from the little liquor store down the street. Gloria worked there, and I’ve known her since birth. Even in his room relaxing after a long day taking care of my sister and I, he listened to him everywhere. As for me, I fell in love with 4 Your Eyez Only.
The album has multiple layers that sink your mind into a haze of street life. The songs are mesmerizing. 4 Your Eyez only gives this perspective of a man who is going through different struggles in his life—poverty, crime, systematic oppression, getting caught up in the streets, and trying to find an escape for that life.
As the album goes on and you realize Cole is telling the story of his friend, who ended up getting involved in the streets and worries about his daughter’s future. In songs like “Change” and “She’s Mine, Pt. 2,” he thinks about life, death, and trying to do better which alters how you see the whole album. What seemed like Cole’s twist on stories about society is actually his friend’s life and what he lived through.
The last song, “4 Your Eyez Only,” is the most powerful and one my favorite parts of the album. It’s a haunting song that starts off by singing how common it is for death to be while running through the midnight hours and facing danger.
He chants “For your eyes, do you understand me?” over and over till it finally gets stuck in your head in hopes you’ll understand him and get what is going on living in the “hood” rather than upscaled apartments with no bars on the windows or nice homes with codes instead of keys.
This is such a personal album Cole made that tells stories and messages that dive deep into . He tells such a deep and emotional story like in another song “Neighbors”. He speaks to a specific audience of people who live and understand the fear of not being able to walk down the street. Watching people live in Santa Monica and go for a quick run with both their headphones plugged in and not worrying about safety would be out of the question for people back home.
“Only time they see us, we be on the news in chains, damn,” he says. This is the reality of being a person of color. For centuries we have been put down and used for our ideas and he wants everyone to know this. History will never stop developing but as we move forward in time they want to erase who we are with simple payments made by governments and a holiday on the calendar.
J.Cole generally writes about the struggles and mistakes that can repeat across generations, especially in poor communities where street life is very common. It’s so refreshing to have an artist who understands this. Cole also has a unique concept in Hip-Hop overall.
Few rap albums focus so much on storytelling and deep emotions nowadays. Rapping now has turned to luxurious lifestyles and never being lonely with substances, which is why 4 Your Eyez Only is one of my favorites. It acknowledges the never ending cycle of problems within my community that are not paid enough attention to.
I live in the song he writes. I feel as if he sings right next to me, speaking to me. 4 Your Eyez Only has been one of the most intimate albums I’ve ever heard. To listen to the albums he writes feels like a personal conversation or a private letter to me. Listening to him over the course of years has taught me that it’s okay to be who I am and not to hide where I came from, where my dad came from, where the people closest to my life came from and embrace who I am without a care just like he does.
