Artists like Juice WRLD (RIP), Lil Uzi Vert, Travis Scott, Trippie Redd and even Drake all work off the sonic blueprint laid out by 808s. Fastforward to 2021 and it can be seen as one of the biggest influences on the current generation of emotional, melody driven rappers that rule popular music. An autoned mess that couldn’t really even be considered hip hop.

At the time it was seen by the average hip hop consumer as a misfire on Kanye’s part. Take Kanye West’s 2008 808s and Heartbreaks for example a huge change in sound and tone from his previous work. The point he makes here is something that plagues a lot of great albums that sound different from their creators’ usual work. You know? The energy around me might not have been ready to receive that.” And what I mean by that is that sometimes timing is everything. “I didn’t like the album…but I have not gone back to listen to it. The average listener usually equates “different” with “bad”.Ĭharlamagne goes on to make an interesting comment further on in the video, It was a drastic change from his prior work and fans just couldn’t seem to wrap their heads around it. It was just that nobody seemed to understand 4 Your Eyez Only. He was at the height of his powers in 2016. This conversation is a perfect representation of the larger opinion of hip hop culture at the time. But I feel like the culture at large kind of gave Cole a pass…” Naji: “Cole’s album this go round, 4 Your Eyez Only…” At this point it’s basically more important than a Grammy. As an artist these days you know you are in the upper echelon of your craft when your music is the subject of a viral meme.

Cole went platinum with no features” meme-worthy by constantly reminding everyone of the fact. Cole’s hardcore (some call them annoying) fans have made the phrase, “J. Since his 2007 mixtape release The Come Up, he has put out a run of outstanding projects doing so without relying on features from other rappers. He’s often mentioned with Kendrick Lamar and Drake as the brightest MCs of his generation. His lyrical prowess and impressive body of work are unrivaled by most, if not all of his peers. Cole however is an artist that seemed immune to putting out a bad project. I don’t know anyone who likes that album and if you do, delete their number. Even the seemingly invincible Lil Wayne, who put out a run of classic mixtapes, along with his acclaimed Tha Carter (I, II, III) collection in the early 2000s, crashed back to earth in 2010 with the release of his forced and messy rock-crossover Rebirth. Jay-Z’s Kingdom Come, Eminem’s Relapse, and Kanye West’s Ye are all proof that even the most heralded artists just come up short from time to time.

Pl enty of hip hop legends have dropped projects that have garnered negative attention from both fans and critics. Even the greatest musicians have an album or two that seem to fall flat.

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