Ken Haddad's Blog

J. Cole is frightening.

On his sophomore mixtape, J. Cole exhibits a mastery of the mic that few artists manage with their best album. The potential this man represents is terrifying. On the song 'Dreams' he successfully uses story-telling rap to tell the listener a story. It is also nice to see that he deviated from the standard 3 verse format that rap has become so accustomed to.

All music is composed of 3 parts. Beat, lyrics, and delivery. The selection of beats is pretty solid on 'The Warm Up', but as it is a mixtape, it remains to be seen whether or not he can find a solid producer for his first album. Lyrics and delivery are very very good for a mixtape. On a few songs, it is agreeably lackluster, but he has definitely put himself on the radar with 'The Warm Up'.

J. Cole graduated magna cum laude. The man is smart. And I am scared. He is TERRIFYINGLY good.