Opening Opinion 98/100
Disc 29
29 Intro-An old timey like song plays about going to Carolina. It kinda sets the tone for the theme of the album. This album is a love letter to J.Cole’s hometown. Gunshots end the track which is wild.
6/10
Two Six-The lead single. I love Cole’s flows on this track. The beat is fire too. It sounds laid back and menacing.
9/10
SAFETY-J.Cole’s raps from the perspective of his friends from his hometown telling him about what’s been going on. It’s really creative and well produced. When he talks about the gay guy he almost calls him the f word but he stops himself lol.
9.5/10
Run A Train-This is a pretty interesting song. J.Cole is joined by Future who sounds pretty invigorated on the chorus. “Fuck do you know about my passion, fuck do you know about my pain, fuck do you know about my struggle, fuck do you know about Jermaine?”. It’s a decent song. It’s pretty laid back.
8/10
Poor Thang-This is a more intense song. I love Cole’s break down when he constantly ends the bar with “Punk bitch”. Pretty clever stuff. The song ends with a phone call that isn’t answered.
8.5/10
Legacy-Another slow song. J.Cole is on his melodic bag here. He’s been pretty decent with melodies in his career. Not gonna lie this song is kinda average.
7/10
Bunce Road Blues-This is one smooth song. I love the beat. Future and Tems join him for this one. Man Tems she really does her thing here. She has an amazing voice.
9/10
WHO TF IZ U-I love this song. Cole is really aggressive here. His bars are pretty sharp here. I love when the beat switches up in the 2nd half of the track.
9/10
Drum n Bass-A pretty methodical song. The beat is pretty minimalistic but it works. “The shit I write so fire, got my hand afraid of my pen” holy shit!
8/10
The Let Out-The production of this one is kinda like wild western but I like it. J.Cole sings quite a bit here. “Ooooh will we survive the Let Out” the chorus repeats.
8.5/10
Bombs in the VIlle/Hit the Gas-I like the first part of this track. Very creative sounding. Cole sings more but it works. The 2nd part is cool too. The beat changes up.
8/10
Lonely at the Top (Bonus)-The final track of disc 29 is decent. The production is kinda smooth. Cole spits well here tho. I like his message here. He’s basically saying he never understood what it meant by its lonely at the top until he had that spot.
8/10
Disc 39
39 Intro-The longest track. It starts with him singing for a while. I like it tho. The 2nd part has Cole spitting some dope bars. “Even God gone wonder how did he exist”…
9/10
The Fall-Off is Inevitable-This might be the best song on the album. J.Cole tells a story of his life in reverse order but its not like Nas’s Rewind song. The way it’s told is so unique. He raps about how his son disappears and he is no longer married….and his father comes back in his life….“My soul reverts and I’m no longer here on this earth”. He raps at the end.
10/10
The Villest-A really smooth song. Cole spits really well. The production is pretty simplistic but it works. “Before I’m done they all gon’ respect the mullato” He even interpolates that one Outkast song, Elevators(Me and You).
8.5/10
Old Dog-This song is about his ties to Roc Nation which is Jay-Z’s label. It features a dope chorus from North Carolina’s own Petey Pablo. The beat is banging! “No more record deal, yeah I’m fresh up out of slavery”.
9/10
Life Sentence-This might be my favorite song on the album. I love the beat and that sample. The song is basically about staying down with your lover. He quotes that DMX song “How’s it Goin Down”. It just comes together so well!
9.5/10
Only You-This is a slow methodical song….but I really like it. I don’t see what the polarization is about. He’s joined by Burna Boy here. At the end there’s a spoken word piece by a woman but I don’t know who she is. I like her part tho.
8/10
Man Up Above-This is a pretty smooth song. Cole story-tells well here. He quotes Jennifer Lopez here “I used to have a little now I got a lot”. The song is mostly about how God set him up for success.
8/10
I Love Her Again-On this song he quotes the famous Common song “I Used to Love H.E.R.”. He tells a story of his love for hip hop just like Common and it’s done really well! The way he personifies Hip Hop as a woman isn’t new ground for a rapper but I love the way he does it. “She said she was moving to the A”. “She was for the streets, I’d never be her only man, couldn’t believe it when I saw her with an Only Fans”.
10/10
What If-Another clever storytelling song. It’s not new ground as The Game had a song kinda like this on 2008’s L.A.X. album. Here Cole raps from the perspective of The Notorious B.I.G. and 2pac. He raps about how each rapper felt during the beef and well ….here they squash it. The cadence of Cole’s rapping is on point too. I wonder would we have gotten this song if it weren’t for the Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake beef of 2024.
10/10
Quik Stop-On this song J.Cole stops at a gas station and he’s approached by a fan. On this song J.Cole starts out with a regular rapping performance but he quickly gets more and more intense. The fan speaks about how J.Cole’s music helped him through a rough time.
9/10
and the whole world is the Ville-This song is pretty catchy. I like the beat. He gives a little history lesson of his come up in the game. “The only southern n*gga that New York adopted”.The song is very soulful.
8/10
Ocean Way (Bonus)-On the final track he sings a lot but I think again it works. However this isn’t an amazing song or anything. It’s just decent. But hey it’s a bonus track.
7.5/10
Final Verdict: 97.5
While maybe not his best album….it’s certainly in the conversation and the best rap album I’ve heard so far in 2026. Will this be J.Coles final album? If so it’s a terrific send off!