With the new surprise release of ‘Might Delete Later’ on April 5, J. Cole makes a statement in the current rap scene. After not releasing a solo album since 2021, he decided to finally come through. Although J. Cole is very loved and has a very good reputation in the music industry, “Might Delete Later” was not as good as some were expecting. Since J. Cole is such a legend in the community, this album is being compared to other recent releases, such as “We Don’t Trust You” by Future and Metro Boomin, along with “For All The Dogs” by Drake — which this album cannot compete with. I am only saying this because the album has a low amount of songs. After listening to each song a couple times, nine or ten of them were very good, and the rest were just okay. If he were to have released an album with twice as many songs, it would be able to compete with other projects.
With the album containing only 12 tracks, there are only a total combined seven features throughout the album, two of which being some decently big names; Gucci Mane and Central Cee. This is odd because we normally see J. Cole pairing up with some bigger names in at least one of the songs, but seeing him correlate with some smaller names is cool to see. After the first full listen to the album, I was overall satisfied with his verses, but the production was questionable and there were cringey lyrics. I say this because songs like “Crocodile Tearz,” and “Trae The Truth In Ibiza,” had some poor beats. Also, the song “Ready ‘24,” had some adlibs that were outstanding as cringe. Despite some of the below average songs, there was a very good balance between having some chill tracks, and some more upbeat, hype songs. The notable “chill” songs on this album are “Pricey,” “H.Y.B” and “Stickz N Stones.” In contrast, some of the better, “upbeat” songs were “7 Minute Drill” and “Ready ‘24.”
This album starts very strong, with a solid verse from Jermaine on top of a satisfying beat. The rest of the song kind of discredits his verse, and makes the song a skip depending on what type of mood you are in. Having Gucci Mane paired with Ari Lennox and Young Dro is definitely an odd trio to have featured on a song, but it worked out just fine. The next two songs that follow this one are not so great. One of them gives off a Drake vibe which doesn’t fit J. Cole’s type of music he makes, and the other one just has a poor beat. While I am bashing the first few songs of this album, I don’t want to give the impression that I dislike the album, because the rest after the first three songs are definitely better than the beginning.
The next few songs in the album are all pretty good. They all have good beats and J. Cole comes on with great flow. I like to see him in a solo song because the featured artists on this album just aren’t on his level — but they do match his style. I like “Huntin’ Wabbitz” and “Stickz N Stonez” because they sound like his old music. These songs are nostalgic to listen to, and they bring a soothing beat to follow a less satisfying start. After the first 11 tracks, you would not expect the ending that this project had. The last song, called “7 Minute Drill,” hits you right away with a staggering beat, which is completely unfamiliar within the rest of the album. This song is pretty clearly a response to what Kendrick Lamar had to say in “Like That,” where he called out Drake and J. Cole. This song left me wondering if the whole album was a response to that piece, or was it just the song?
Overall, this album is very solid. The contrast between the calm songs and aggressive ending make way for a fun and exciting listen, and the fact that this was a surprise release makes it a whole lot more exciting to listen to, and being satisfied after listening to it makes it even better. J. Cole is too good of a rapper to be involved in beef between himself and other rappers, but this album was a suitable response to what happened.
“Might Delete Later:” ★★★★☆
