1. For Whom The Bells Toll 2. Immortal 3. Deja Vu 4. Ville Mentality 5. She's Mine Pt.1 6. Change 7. Neighbors 8. Foldin Clothes 9. She's Mine Pt.2 10. 4 Your Eyez Only
An album released on December 9, 2016 by artist Jermaine Cole. This album is a personal album for J. cole which explains why it isn't given as much attention compared to his other discography. However this album is one of the best pieces of story telling I have experinced. At first listen it may not come across as such though, but once you give it the analysis it deserves you will realize how truly phenomenal and sad it is.
The album takes place in 2007 and does not follow over J cole directly, but instead it does it indirectly. The main person that is focused is his friend who is called James (for privacy reasons), the reason the album indirectly follows J. Cole is that they lived the same life but at some point went different paths. James lives as a poor black man in American who has fallen into a trap set by this crooked "justice" system. He is caught up in the drug dealing game as displayed in song 2. Immortal where it is also stated that there were only 3 ways they said he could get money by either "sell dope, rap or go to NBA. In that order". But also in that song is foreshadowing of James death where it is said "Death creepin in my thoughts lately, you wanna change the world but while alive you never will, and now im teetering between being heard and getting old". That final part is important he feels that hes close to death (being heard) or just getting old (which would also lead to death). This is where the paths of James and Cole seperate as Cole never dealt drugs and fourtantly didn't get caught up in the game.
In song 3. Deja Vu we are introduced to his love life where he meets this girl in the club who was already dating someone but they end up geting together either way which is shown in song 5. She's Mine Pt.1 and will have a child together which would be presented in song 9. She's Mines Pt.2 but not all is good. Because in song 4. Ville Mentality James will continue to fight thoughts on how he cannot survive with what he is doing at the moment and how it would either lead to death or imprisonment as he would never "give up my chain, never, give up my pride never, show em my pain never,dirt on my name, never" this mentality is sadly be the one that would lead to his death. In the end of this song it would speak on how people from the hood have to change their whole persona and the way they speak just to get a job but once they get back to the hood they must act hard and like they dont care. Sadly this would come to be the end of James' story as track 6. Change will reveal that the life of the person we have been following died at age 22 over street drama. While Cole and James were outside someone popped their trunk grabbed a gun and started firing while Cole was running and luckily made it out of the scene he never looked back, just to see that on the news James was slain but at his funeral at the end of the song the topic of being trapped in the hood and pride is brought up. at the end of the song you hear a man crying and saying that he is going to get revenge creating a never ending loop of murder.
In the final song 4 Your Eyez Only we listen to a song recorded for the dauhter of James and eviednce that this story is something that happened in the past and that his daughter has grown up at it states that "You probably grown now so this song'll hit you. If you hearing thia, unfortantly means that I'm no longer with you" but it also speakes on how James was arrested but since the system is crooked he couldnt find a job to support her daughter leading to him going to crime again as it paid like a part time job but this would lead to him getting arrested again which is when he realized that the system was crooked.