“Cole world but I’m hot as shit…”
For the last month, the big question around J. Cole’s debut album was whether he’d be able to secure a feature from Roc Nation founder Jay-Z. Fans now won’t have to wait for September 27 to find out, as the track was leaked earlier this afternoon.
When listening to it, you almost do a double-take to make sure you aren’t listening to a bonus track off Watch the Throne. If you listened to that project, you know that ‘Ye and Jay stripped/dumbed down (more so Jay) their lyrics and made the production the star. Cole tries to do the same, but he doesn’t quite have the presence to pull it off completely, especially considering lyrical content is his strong suit. He picks it up in the second verse and Jay adds his slick lines, some of which could be seen as subliminal rebuttals to Lil Wayne’s dissCarter IV diss to Beyonce (“Who got these niggas all wound up?/ Cocksucker I’m 730/ Y’all know where niggas gonna wind up”). As the song progresses, the chorus stands out as the weakest part. With beats like this, the choruses come off much more effectively if they’re either short and catchy or have a big epic feel (see Watch the Throne’s “Niggas In Paris” and “Why I Love You”). “Mr. Nice Watch” is neither, going too long with Cole’s vocals and soft musical chords.
Considering the lineup, this a disappointing. Maybe it’ll make more sense once it’s listened to in the context of the entire album, but I can’t help but hope this is the only time on Cole World he explores this sound.
J. COLE X JAY-Z “MR. NICE WATCH”
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 