This whole album is heavily influenced by Biggie, Pac, Jay, NaS and Ye'. The reason these young lions are stuck in that shadow cause they aren't dropping Classic music. Drake has the hit songs but no Classic album. J Cole, Wale, Meek are the same. Kendrick debut is getting early "Classic" love but only time will really tell it's impact. Cole recently said that him and his peers need to not feel they can't do better than the greats from the 90's. But listening to "Born Sinner" only reaffirmed to me that the 90's era was so great, so influential that it litterally has had a reverse effect and handicapped many of the young rappers trying to live up to that legacy.
Big, Pac, Jay, NaS and Ye's music have aged like fine wine. Ye as of today to me is the only rapper from this era that will be mentioned with the Greats. "College Dropout" could be argued as the last true Classic album in Hip Hop that can be mentioned with some of the Greats. At the end of the day, off 1st listen I enjoyed "Born Sinner" more than "Sideline Story" so Cole is improving. But he and other emcees will never get out of the shadows of the greats until they make something GREAT. This album all in all sounded like Cole begging the Rap Gods for acceptance instead of just dropping a Classic album. I give it 4 MICS off 1st listen. Still letting it digest but I like what I hear.