Though strictly addressed to Nina, Cole also uses the album to address the black community and to discuss the factors that led to James’ death. In the final song also titled “4 Your Eyez Only,” Cole reveals the underlying narrative of the album: James believes that his death is near and pleads to Cole, “Write my story down, and if I pass, go play it for my daughter when she ready.” Caught between the drug trade and joblessness, 22-year-old James dies in “Changes,” and Cole offers the album as a reflection on his death and the fulfillment of his promise to tell Nina about her absent father. It’s an album everyone in the United States should listen to its seismic importance lies in the quality and content of its narrative, a private conversation between a dead father and his daughter.įor whose eyes is this album? In a strict sense, the record is for Nina’s eyes, the daughter of Cole’s childhood friend whose name is changed on the album to James McMillan Jr. Even in its style, “4 Your Eyez Only” is calm and intimate, opting more for lyrical meditation than the fast-paced argumentation of Kendrick Lamar or the often moody bravado of Drake. He pursued simplicity, retreated from public life, got married and had a child before quietly dipping back into the rap game at the end of 2016 with “ 4 Your Eyez Only” and its accompanying film.
Cole can seem like a monastic.Īfter the successful release of “ 2014 Forest Hills Drive” in 2014, the 32-year-old rapper from Fayetteville, North Carolina, disappeared and moved to Raleigh, well away from the urban centers of rap and into the desert, as it were. For those familiar with church history and rap, J.