Debate: Take Care or Cole World?
Before I open up the floor here I’d like to weigh in on this debate. I’m anticipating both obviously, but this is one of those “put a gun to your head and choose one” type debates. Everyone’s favorite. Ignore the fact that Cole’s project drops a month before Drake’s so you’ll be anticipating it longer anyway. Lets break this down real quick….
Who had the better singles?
The lead singles from both of these albums lived up to the hype, to say the least. Cole’s “Work Out” and recently released single “Can’t Get Enough” featuring Trey Songz show promise for his debut album. I’m hoping to see more songs like “Can’t Get Enough” than “Work Out” though. Then you have Drake’s “Headlines” which was a little different than his usual lead single, but none of us were complaining. I think he’s definitely mastered the art of mixing his singing with rapping and he didn’t need a really catchy hook to get our attention. The Trey Songz feature wasn’t prominent enough for me and wouldn’t have minded if Cole just did the chorus himself. I give the edge to Drake on this one considering I still find myself enjoying “Headlines” a bit more.
Does less really mean more?
It’s safe to say “So Far Gone” gave us the same excitement for “Thank Me Later” as J. Cole’s now THREE mixtapes (The Come Up, The Warm Up, Friday Night Lights) has given us for “Cole World: A Sideline Story.” Drake took over last summer with the success of his debut album, and at the same time Cole was building a buzz for his own album with the release of promotional single, “Who Dat.” The beginning of 2011 was very quiet for Drake (to allow Weezy to get his buzz back being out of jail in my opinion) while we were listening to “Friday Night Lights” and an array of leaked tracks from J. Cole. Then “I’m on One” happened. And “Dreams Money Can Buy,” “Marvins Room,” “Trust Issues,” and “Headlines” followed suit. He strategically placed them apart though leaving us anticipating his next move. So, is it quality over quantity? Although Drake more than made up for the music drought, I still would’ve really liked if he followed through on that R&B mixtape he promised. Give the slight edge to J. Cole here.
And finally….
Which album do I think will be better?
I was kind of disappointed when I saw that “In the Morning and “Lights Please” were going to be on Cole’s album simply because they feel ancient at this point. In my opinion that is two brand new songs that we are getting cheated out of. It appears “Marvin’s Room” will make the album due to the success from the unintentional single (peaking at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100.) “Take Care” also has confirmed features by Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, T-Pain, Stevie Wonder and, from a tweet he made early morning on September 6th (“Alllllll the way from memphis tennessee…and he got something special for ya’ll tonight.”), possibly a Justin Timberlake feature. I’m also curious to see if he gets his “idol” Jay-Z on board again after this so called beef. I’ve already gone ahead and claimed that “Take Care” would be album of the year so I’d be a hypocrite to say I’d think J. Cole’s will be better. No potential for a sophomore slump here. J. Cole will impress us, but Drake will blow us away.
Leave comments or hit me up on Twitter with your opinion.
Twitter- @TheMikeDaSilva
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103 Responses to “Debate: Take Care or Cole World?”
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Drake>>>>>>J. Cole
As someone stated above
Take Care > Carter 4 > Cole World > Watch The Throne > Rap Game .
Tho I’d add Game’s album between C4 and Cole World.
@Martin Carniglia,
Section 80 > All Albums This Year.
@HHG, Agreed.. Kendrick Lamar!
ummmm no comment i find drake trash and take care already does’nt deserve album of the year( becuase the singles were average nothing special as usual from a mainstream artist) i find tech n9nes album kendricks album or watch the throne to be album of the year (i guess i did have a comment)
COLE WORLD allll day man. J. Cole is just too real for any artist out there today. Two different styles of rap but personally I liked Drake a lot better when he was actually going hard on tracks instead of this singing nonsense. He conformed in a way that greats such as eminem, nas, and jay-z have not. Cole is as real as they come and he produces all of his music. He doesn’t need a producer like 40 or Boi-1da when he produces fire on his own. COLE WORLD
I was very upset also when I saw ‘lights please’ & ‘in the morning’ he could of used 2 other songs and like he said it himself in an interview, “I have so much material” so that gets you kinda mad when you connect A & B but in the end you’re still stuck with A. But I’m still Cole World all the way!
J. Cole does not produce “fire” he produces mediocre beats and has decent lyrics. Drake on the other hand is a person who has mastered his art of lyrics, punchlines, etc. 40 and Boi-1da are amazing producers that are far better than J. Cole.
@Shane, lmao@ mastered his art and punchlines? like punchlines i something to be proud of? shit is whats killing hiphop! and what art you talking about? he should master his storytelling more instead of worrying about lil kindergarden punchlines lol produces has storytelling can throw “punchlines” is deep thats a complete artist though his production aint at Ye’s level with time there will be.
whoever says drake is better than j.cole is stupid… drake is great… but cole is amazing… J.cole “the warm up” and “friday night lights” were better than “thank me later” and cole didnt get help from the big names that drake did… cole has done everything himself, while drake has co-signed his way to star status… dont get me wrong, ima huge drake fan… i just dont think hes on cole’s level… Cole World : The Sideline Story… 9/27/11…
@Spiiita,
I AGRREEE !
i just fel like people are so stupid. the warm up and fnl are shit compared to so far gone and thank me later actually. i agree with SHANE fully.
why cant cole world an ovoxo get along?
Cole World : The Sideline Story 9/27/11
Take Care 10/24/11
“so far gone” is an amazing mixtape. only it can compete with “friday night lights” and “the warm up”. but “thank me later disappointed many people… and many of the people that think drake is better are either people that listen to bullsh*t radio music or are under the age of 15…
Whoever said Carter 4 > Cole World > WTT doesnt kno what he’s talkn about…Ion’t even wanna know what your iPod sounds like. Carter 4 sucks sweaty king kong balls, should NEVER be compared to WTT which was not what we expected, but still a great album. Now I’m a big Drake fan, but I’m also a Cole fan and J. Cole has been da most consistent rapper of the new school. Fame didn’t affect the quality of his music at all, unlike Drake who was a little shaky for some time until recently. He got crazy punchlines and spits real shit, not dat wayne n his whack ass rhymes shit. So I can already [readict Cole world will b > to take care.
#THECROWNAINTSAFE
enough said.
@suspension, Los!!!!…
I’m going to buy both the albums, I couldn’t compare both of them if I wanted to because they are different kind of artists with different focuses.
Drake aims at making songs people will enjoy and vibe to, no matter how exciting or dull the lyrics maybe.
J.Cole aims to make songs that are lyrically rich, even if they aren’t all that entertaining.
I like them both and i’m personally more of an OVOXO Drizzy Drake fan, but i’m still for Coleworld as well, and i’ll purchase both like a #truefan
Drake said it himself.. Cole’s his favorite rapper. J. Cole is a lyrical fiend, while Drake is more of the pop/mainstream genius. Take Care probably will go platinum first week, cause of the buzz. Cole world, probably will barely go gold.
I’m Cole World all day, but the truth is lyricism is gone. Sad to say, but I don’t think it’ll come back fast enough for us lyricists lovers to enjoy on the radio.
@Yago,
if you’re a lyricist lover.. why are you listening to the radio anyway. we learned a LONG time ago that the radio wasnt the place for our ears.
@pack,
i know. but i just wish that lyricists would get airtime. but no.
i wanna hear some cole when im riding in a car or some shit. that would make me happy as fuck. don’t tell me you don’t wanna hear your favorite lyricist playin.
Drake album going to crazy! But Cole World going to be history like college dropout and kanye!
COLE WORLD
Drakes album is gunna impress us. J cole’s album will blow us away.
J. Cole gone be ah classic. Drake gone have ah pop album. So in my mind no compition. Rap>Pop
COLE WORLD, NO DISCUSSION
Because of Drake’s past, I am just the hugest Drake fan. His story (not the acting on Degrassi part) is just so relatable to mine that I made him my hero and idol when I heard it. He’s made tremendous strides since his days of being Jimmy and he’s learned a lot since Room For Improvement. I love the man cuz his lyrics, while not the deepest are still very impressive and speak a trueness that we all can relate to on a basic level, always keep me interested and he represents that people like me can do anything in this world if we try n work hard enough.
J.Cole…..I don’t have much to say about him since I really don’t listen to his music so I won’t make a long comment. The way his buzz seems to me, I think his career (starting with this album coming out) will go one of two ways: 1) With his 1st album being a success he will officially join the ranks of the “spotlight artists” as I call them and he’ll have twice as much buzz and anticipation for his sophomore album. 2) Because of his style n lyricism, the mainstream world may not latch onto him and push him aside after this album and a couple of singles. This album will set the tone……so all I can really say is he better deliver like a mufucka with his shit. I’ma buy it just to see if he does.
Now to address the issue of who’s album is going to be better: Take Care or Cole World. Because of my fandom and lack of listening to J.Cole I would naturally say Take Care but I want to put out some doubts on both album and illuminate some good points brought up by other people regarding boy albums to leave my decision as fair and unbiased as possible:
Thank Me Later wasn’t amazing, even I’ll admit that, BUT that was Drake’s plan from the beginning: “I’m jus tryna pace it so that I’m always chasin it” from the 1st verse off the 1st song of the album, Fireworks. He knows his time is in a sense limited because of his topic content and style, he’s well aware that he many not last forever so he’s really trying to take the attention he’s captured, and live up to it in parts and slowly, enjoying as much as he can. So in that sense TML did exactly what he wanted; kept our attention, didn’t impress us. So with that in mind, I don’t expect too much else from Take Care, a good album no doubt, but won’t be to the typical “Drake Standard” as we’ve seen from RFI, CS and SFG. Especially looking at the singles he’s had out from the album already; Trust Issues, Marvin’s Room, Dreams Money Can Buy, and Headlines, I suspect this album to be primarily focused on his life accepting the fame he’s entered into and what it’s like living in it. And even though this is going to be a good album, I fear that Drake is sort of declining. The first time I heard Marvin’s Room and Dreams Money Can Buy I was terrified this was the new Drake, seriously a fall off from his mix tape prowess. The rest of the songs pretty much followed suit and it worried me that we’d never get the same Drake again. Buy stepping back I think this may be temporary because of his current status and we may need to wait a few years before he does a 180 of some sorts n starts really showing us what he can do and living up to the pedestal we put him on originally.
So Take Care will be decent, prolly not great, but listen-worthy and good enough to keep on the iPod.
Flipping over to Cole World, I think that because of the amount of meaning behind this debut album, it is way more potent than Take Care. So Cole wins there. But now to get down to the actual content of the album; all his fans are pumped for it to be released, and hoping on the wagon late, so am I..but that doesn’t say anything about how the album will perform nor what it will contain. Because of the type of content Cole puts in his songs, I feel like his topics are limited and eventually we’ll no longer find that “shock value” in his music, still good, just not shocking and people will lose interest. Maybe his producing will add another element to the equation but as people are commenting his beats don’t seem to be topic of the year. So in the end, I feel he and Drake are kind of in the same boat of limited time, just in two different parts of the river.
To conclude it: Take Care < Cole World
COLE WORLD > TAKE CARE
i have now heard both