Jay-Z & Kanye West-Watch The Throne (Album Discussion)

[Triple OG Rapsodie]

lol, I mean I like J. Cole. So clearly, it's pretty easy to just say you like somebody. I liked Cole's "Warm Up". He just hasn't progressed from it. He's actually gotten worse & you guys are acting like he's showing signs of getting better. I just think that's foolish. That's basically all I wanted to point out. Is that this is likely the best he'll ever be & it's nothing all that special. I mean, don't you agree? Doesn't everybody here agree that this album isn't going down as anything all-time?

It's hard for anyone to believe you're a J. Cole fan. Look at your first posts in the J. Cole thread, you were shitting on him before you'd even checked out his debut album. It's not like he has enough material for you to like him and then decide he's fallen off.

& what a stupid question lol. I mean, when Jordan came back on the Wizards, did he have higher expectations than Kobe? No. People were just like, "oh, dope. MJ is back". But Kobe had to prove he was ready to take over. Cole clearly has higher expectations. Two great rappers, falling out of their prime don't really have standards. Cole, "the golden child", "next in line", etc, etc., who ironically enough is signed with the other two & is suppose to put out an album that at least matches some of their work. Sure, you can say it's better than "Watch The Throne". But "Cole World" isn't in the same sport (let alone league), as any of the great albums Jay or Kanye have been known for.

J. Cole isn't Kobe. I don't know where you got the expectation for him to be the next Jay-Z. And while its arguable that Jay-Z has fallen off, Kanye certainly hasn't. His last solo was imo his second best album, and if you look at reviews from critics its his best received. Two of the best the mainstream has to offer drop a collab album and you have less expectations than from a newcomer with 2 mixtapes?

I feel like you've created these own expectations in your head so you're basically arguing with yourself. No one has said the album is a classic or that J. Cole is G.O.A.T. material. You just need to see him as a promising new rapper like the rest of us. You said this yourself:

"People just need to admit they don't like the two of them being the face of rap or whatever it is that bothers them. But there is clearly some personal bias against the two of them."

Replace Jay-z and Kanye with J. Cole and the exact same argument rings true. Except J. Cole is a newcomer and not the face of rap.