Yeezus VS Born Sinner

   Well, the day has come and went. June 18, 2013 the day both KanYe West and J. Cole released new albums. Mac Miller also released a new album that day but we're not talking about him.

   Now, whether you're a hip-hop head or not you may have already heard that J. Cole is the obvious winner when it comes to these albums. J. Cole truly proved himself and Mr. West proved to be out if his mind. Soooo, lets talk about the better man first.

     We all fell in love with the first single Power Trip, pretty much  an admittance to obsession, but this song was no indication of what we were about to hear from J. Cole. Born Sinner. The most important thing about this album is that it is so very different from Cole's first studio album Cole World: The Sideline Story. Personally I felt like I was listening to whole new J. Cole, which I appreciate very much. Born Sinner sticks to the title and kept the "religion" theme throughout with dope beats, clever samples, and  features. The first track does its job as an introduction for this album, cynically titled Villuminati, using an obvious but not so obvious Biggie snippet, also including a few shoutouts to Cole's big big brother Jay-Z.
    A few more stand out tracks on Born Sinner include Trouble, Crooked Smile ft. TLC, and Forbidden Fruit ft. Kendrick Lamar. Yes, what we've all been waiting for, another J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar collaboration. I'm not sure if you can be a fan of one without being a fan of the other and their friendship is very well known. This track is very effective, there is no competition, no overkill, it's smooth.
   Now, Of course I could not forget, probably one of the most pinnacle recordings on this album Let Nas Down. The second to last song on the album is an account of a time when Nas was disappointed in one Cole's earlier singles Work Out. He says, "Long live the idols, may they never be your rivals." Nas is certainly one of Cole's idols as he is to most of us. Hip-Hop odes by rappers for other rappers have been done many times before and this is a notable one. Cole also cleverly shouts out KanYe a bit, using the line "No I.D. my mentor now let the story begin" from Big Brother, Yeezy's ode to Jay-Z.
     Overall Born Sinner is a good album. Well put together, extremely truthful/raw, very Hip-Hop, very dope and a bit of a surprise, or refreshment rather.
PLEASE listen if you haven't already !



   Oh right, and for Yeezus.

      All I can say is that I am more than disappointed and confused. He used a lot of up-tempo electronic beats which he reportedly did not produce himself and there is just a lot of pointless shouting. A few tracks that seemed like they would be good just fell flat. Yeezy had almost no flow throughout the album. The first single "New Slaves" may have mislead all of us as to what this album is really about, it's mostly fluff.