By: William VanVooren
LO’T Entertainment Co-Editor

J Cole’s new album “KOD” was released on April 20th, 2018 and is 43 minutes long with 12 songs. KOD has three different meanings; Kids on Drugs, King Overdosed, and Kill Our Demons. These themes play a major part into the lyrics of this album with it dealing heavily with addiction and the effects it can have on a person’s life.
J Cole is typically not an artist I would listen to as I could never seem to get into his previous work. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this album, and it’s the perfect length as it doesn’t overstay its welcome and is well tied together. Some of the songs I enjoy on this album are: “KOD,” “ATM,” “Kevin’s Heart,” “Once an Addict (Interlude).” and “Window Pain (Outro).” All of these songs are filled with great lyrics about dealing with the urge to cheat on “Kevin’s Heart,” referencing actor Kevin Hart, the pain in seeing his mom struggle with addiction on “Once an Addict (Interlude)”, and the need for bad things to happen on “Window Pain (Outro).”
J Cole’s lyrics can come off as preachy as he condemns others and the current state of hip-hop, which can be a turn off to many fans. The other downfall of this album is the simplicity of the production with a lot of the songs sounding very similar and unremarkable such as “Motiv8” or “FRIENDS (feat. kiLL edward).” These songs are ones I don’t revisit and generally don’t care for and show some of the flaws in J Cole’s music. J Cole then closes the album off with the song “1985 ( Intro to ‘The Fall Off’) where he gives advice for “Soundcloud rappers”, telling them to be wise with their money and don’t fade out with the trends.
Overall, I did enjoy this album and was glad I gave it a listen even though I didn’t like J Cole’s past work. For a true testament to how much I enjoyed the album and its album cover, I bought it on vinyl as soon as it was available to be able to have a physical copy and support the artist. J Cole’s “KOD” is an 8/10 for me, and it is in my top 5 albums of the year as of now.