4 Your Eyez Only - J. Cole

I chose the last song, "4 Your Eyez Only", from J. Cole's most recent album, 4 Your Eyez Only. The album came out exactly a year ago, and in my opinion it is one of the most poetic hip hop albums of all time. In this album, J. Cole raps about everything from police brutality, the idea of life and death, and societal expectations of what black men can achieve.

Perhaps the most poetic part of this song, and the album in its entirety, is the speaker. The entire album is actually not from the perspective of J. Cole, rather it's from the perspective of his dead friend. However, the point of view is shifted at the very last verse of the the very last song when J. Cole is rapping as himself to convey to his audience the significance of the story, and who the album is truly for.

I love you and I hope to God I don't lose you
For your eyes only

Your daddy was a real nigga cause he loved you
For your eyes only

Here are the very last lines of the third first, and the last lines of the final verse. It becomes clear that the perspective of the song, and the entire album, shifts from J. Cole's friend to J. Cole himself when you look at how the words are directed. In verse three, it is told from first person point of view. In the fourth verse, it is told from second person point of view. When you listen to the song in its entirety, you understand that the point of view changes because the friend asked J. Cole to tell his story to the audience if he can't do it himself. Which ultimately, he couldn't. The fourth verse clarifies all of this.

The audience of this song, and the entire album, is the daughter of J. Cole's dead friend. 

With that said, the only thing I'm proud to say, I was a father
Write my story down, and if I pass
Go play it for my daughter when she ready"
And so I'm leaving you this record, for your eyes only
Don't you ever scratch or disrespect it

The first three lines of this excerpt is J Cole's friend asking Cole to tell his daughter his story. It ends as a quote to illustrate the significance of time. When Cole's friend speaks, he speaks from the past. When J. Cole speaks as himself, it's in the present. This is how the album is resolved at the end. J. Cole speaks to his friend's daughter and tells her why he wrote the album, who it's all for, and who it's all from.

The occasion of this poem is one of a black man struggling to find the right thing to do and provide for his daughter.

This is hell and I don't mean that hyperbolic
I try to find employment even if it's wiping toilets
But these felonies be making life the hardest
Resisting the temptation to run up and swipe a wallet

This is the perspective of Cole's friend, and he is talking about the experience of being sent to prison and then trying to find a way to earn of living after being a released. It's a problem that plagues the black community seeing as black people are disproportionately arrested and sent to prison. He then speaks to the temptation to break the law again out of necessity, which highlights the vicious cycle of the prison system.

I got the strangest feeling your daddy gonna lose his life soon
And sadly if you're listening now it must mean it's true
But maybe there's a chance that it's not 

And I can teach you this in person
Like I'm teaching you to tie your own shoes

This is the speaker conveying to his audience that he fears and contemplates the reality of him maybe dying soon. However, he prays that that's not the case and he can teach his daughter in person everything he taught her on this album.  4 Your Eyez Only - J. Cole4 Your Eyez Only - J. Cole