J Cole should be higher on peoples list than Fab, Cam and Jada all time

[CrimsonTider]

Jada's albums being meh to bad have nothing to do with his rap style and everything to do with him being a meh ARTIST who picked trendy beats. Kiss The Game Goodbye starts with some classic tracks and then devolves into a flurry of radio attempts that don't work. You take Show Discipline, We Gon Make It, None Of Yall Better, add a few more bangers in that vein, throw in two of the better radio attempts and suddenly you have a far better album. But you'd need to be a better artist to recognize that was the play, versus what he did - spent all his budget recording in Orlando and buying all the beats he thought would make him a star.

I don’t think Cole has a great discography. It’s actually very weak compared to his contemporaries mainly because his production suck and the lack of features

but Cole World, FNL and FHD drive moved people unlike any project from Fab, jada or Cam

 

[CoolinInTheCut]

I don’t think Cole has a great discography. It’s actually very weak compared to his contemporaries mainly because his production suck and the lack of features

but Cole World, FNL and FHD drive moved people unlike any project from Fab, jada or Cam

I agree with the first line but are you kidding me lol

We Are The Streets, Diplomatic Immunity 1 and 2, Purple Haze, Come Home With Me, Kiss The Game Goodbye, etc were all solid or classic albums

The Soul Tapes probably shyt on Coles catalog too.

 

[dubsmith_nz]

If I'm looking at the whole catalogue Cole can easily slide into my top 10. His live performances are top tier as well.

 

[dubsmith_nz]

I'll ask you this, Ross dropped the mixtape Rich 4ever and The Black Dollar.

Does J.Cole have a project in his toolbox seeing those 2 mixtapes? I'm not talking about Ross's album, many would say Ross's albums are better, but is there anything in J.Cole's toolbox seeing those two Ross mixtapes.

Ross & Jada are in the same boat when it comes to bars.

Oil Money is a prime example

I'd take Friday Night Lights and Forest Hills Drive over anything Ross has released.

This all comes down to personal opinion though.

 

[Shadow King]

Cole pulled up on Adam cause Adam kept pushing the "J Cole is boring" meme that was popular at the time.

And you should be considering all of the artist's work, not just studio albums. We do this for Cole anyways by including Friday Night Lights and The Warm Up, which are arguably his best albums. And nothing Cole has ever dropped has come close to We Are The Streets.

I don't need to consider mixtapes from anybody named to form my opinion. And to me if there's a night and day disparity between tapes and albums there's a balance as a mainstream-potent artist that you lack for whatever reason. It isn't 100% "b but samples and paperwork". And I cannot reward that when plenty of other artists in your tier have been able to execute.

I'm not putting group albums in a discussion about 4 artists with more than enough solo material.

 

[CoolinInTheCut]

I don't need to consider mixtapes from anybody named to form my opinion. And to me if there's a night and day disparity between tapes and albums there's a balance as a mainstream-potent artist that you lack for whatever reason. It isn't 100% "b but samples and paperwork". And I cannot reward that when plenty of other artists in your tier have been able to execute.

I'm not putting group albums in a discussion about 4 artists with more than enough solo material.

Whether the music is packaged as a mixtape or an album is completely arbitrary. At the end of the day, what matters are the songs, and more specifically the verses since we're talking rap.

And all of these rappers both have, and are a part of, far more classic songs than Cole.

 

[Shadow King]

Whether the music is packaged as a mixtape or an album is completely arbitrary. At the end of the day, what matters are the songs, and more specifically the verses since we're talking rap.

And all of these rappers both have, and are a part of, far more classic songs than Cole.

It isn't arbitrary or else they'd be packaged as albums. You're making them arbitrary since they don't fit your argument. Trying to whittles all-time rankings to a verse by verse is much more arbitrary than expecting an artist to deliver a strong album.

One side has to rely on mixtapes to make their claim. The other side has strong mixtapes and albums. One side is much farther away from what fans saw as their potential careers. The other side depends on who you ask, some think he can make a pantheon-level album and is coasting, but others think he's overachieved. Across both sub-categories are those who see he's gotten better as craft as time went on and many former critiques don't apply anymore.

I'll take the Other Side.

 

[CrimsonTider]

I agree with the first line but are you kidding me lol

We Are The Streets, Diplomatic Immunity 1 and 2, Purple Haze, Come Home With Me, Kiss The Game Goodbye, etc were all solid or classic albums

The Soul Tapes probably shyt on Coles catalog too.

DI and We are the streets are not solo projects

Kiss the game goodby and Come home with me are mid. Purple hayes is but not special

Soul tapes are fabs best work but nothing special in the grand scheme of things

 

[Pillmattic]

This last post I’ll make on this because I never wanna be too negative on a rapper i really do like and see massive potential in


But to me the whole back and forth between nas and cole
On let nas down and made nas proud was a moment to me I never seen rappers do (while both are still alive) really showing love like that to each other and really having a convo between the two songs and honestly that’s what rap is for it don’t always gotta be battling you can show love and that shyt mean way more and nas talking to him like a proud big brother just wanting his lil bro to not have to go thru the shyt he went thru


That’s all I’m trying to say if cole had an album with a couple more moments like that he got the classic I know he got in him and if not he might be in that jada spot 10 years from now homie career may just be starting if he raps aslong as jay and nas have been (and still making good music) and if cole is your favorite rapper I’ll never hate because if this all he can do he’s done a lot more than rappers I loved and that never even got a proper album released grafh Cory gunz papoose alot of rappers time seemed to have forgot about cole still got really good albums and he’s still pushing positive shyt so if some kid feel the way about him the way I do about nas and k dot I can never hate because there are literally 100s of rappers that ain’t touching cole for real

 

[CoolinInTheCut]

It isn't arbitrary or else they'd be packaged as albums. You're making them arbitrary since they don't fit your argument. Trying to whittles all-time rankings to a verse by verse is much more arbitrary than expecting an artist to deliver a strong album.

One side has to rely on mixtapes to make their claim. The other side has strong mixtapes and albums. One side is much farther away from what fans saw as their potential careers. The other side depends on who you ask, some think he can make a pantheon-level album and is coasting, but others think he's overachieved. Across both sub-categories are those who see he's gotten better as craft as time went on and many former critiques don't apply anymore.

I'll take the Other Side.

Lmao I think you're making it about albums because its convenient for your argument, otherwise why would it make sense to have a single determining factor when it comes to deciding whos the better rapper? You should be looking at everything. By your logic, Curren$y would be a better rapper than Big Pun since he has a better catalog. There's so many more variables to consider.

And, no, Cole does not have strong albums. And I think Cole is an elite rapper. All his albums are weaker than his early tapes. Truly Yours EPs have some strong songs too.

DI and We are the streets are not solo projects

Kiss the game goodby and Come home with me are mid. Purple hayes is but not special

Soul tapes are fabs best work but nothing special in the grand scheme of things

Same thing as above, you gotta look at everything the artist did if you wanna compare them.

 

[Houston911]

I don’t think Cole has a great discography. It’s actually very weak compared to his contemporaries mainly because his production suck and the lack of features

but Cole World, FNL and FHD drive moved people unlike any project from Fab, jada or Cam

That woat tag is well deserved

Chwm >>>> anything j Cole ever did

 

[TheAnointedOne]

...Does he have a song better than this?



or

 

[Lord Beasley]

cam yes because that nicca is horrendously overrated by NY-biased niccas. higher than fab is debatable, higher than Jada is completely false and out of the question

 

[ISO]

I’d place him over Fab and Cam on some career shyt but Kiss would be arguable.

Cam is untouchable on this site dude been washed for a decade plus with a hoarse voice and got eviscerated by Mase (this shyt was worse than Ether imo) and he and his crew dismantled on some MC shyt by the L.O.X. and he’s still bulletproof. Let this be any other rapper by comparison someone like Fab who has remained consistent is hated on way more.

Not to mention none of Cam albums are really above 3.5 mics and that Children of the Corn stuff people talking about on here was obscure.

The whole technical argument is moot to me because all these rappers got different strengths. Fab is a beast with the multis and punchlines but he is monotone and lacks the substance and soul Cole brings with his raspy voice and harmonizing and Cole is also an A1 storyteller and has good punches.

Cole solo career still a bit of a disappointment I still hold his mixtape work as his best work.

 

[Shadow King]

Lmao I think you're making it about albums because its convenient for your argument, otherwise why would it make sense to have a single determining factor when it comes to deciding whos the better rapper? You should be looking at everything. By your logic, Curren$y would be a better rapper than Big Pun since he has a better catalog. There's so many more variables to consider.

And, no, Cole does not have strong albums. And I think Cole is an elite rapper. All his albums are weaker than his early tapes. Truly Yours EPs have some strong songs too.



Same thing as above, you gotta look at everything the artist did if you wanna compare them.

I didn't say albums were the single determine factor. I said I'm not rewarding artists who turn in great tapes but can never do the same for an album, especially in 20+ years of recording. There's something said artist lacks and it deserves docking compared to those who did it.

If someone said Currensy is better strictly at the art of rapping, we know not to take them serious. If someone placed Currensy over Pun because he's been able to deliver over and over again, although this is something Pun has no control over, I wouldn't get mad at this.

Yes, Cole has strong albums. Does he have a classic? Debatable, if someone says no that's fine. But turning in 5 B-pluses is better than most people and especially better than the names mentioned in here.

All of his albums are not weaker than his early tapes, that's nostalgia talking. FNL is in the mix with his best 2-3 albums but Come Up and Warm Up are not better overall projects than any album other than Sideline Story.