“Might Delete Later” – J. Cole

Album: Might Delete Later

Artist: J. Cole

Year: 2024

Genre: Hip Hop

Grade: C

In response to Kendrick Lamar’s diss on “Like That,” which featured on Future & Metro Boomin’s average 2024 album WE DON’T TRUST YOU, J. Cole releases a mediocre-at-best, very-bad-at-worst 12-track mixtape called Might Delete Later, the title of which only confirms the project’s irrelevance.

In fact, J. Cole has already publicly apologized for clapping back at Lamar, confessing to his fans: “that’s the lamest shit I did in my fuckin’ life.” In particular, he’s referring to the mixtape’s closing track, “7 Minute Drill,” which is neither seven minutes nor much of a workout. I applaud Cole’s self-awareness: when your best comeback at Lamar is saying he “fell off like The Simpsons,” you lose all right to criticize To Pimp a Butterfly and Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers. And the fact that he actually scrubbed the song from the Internet only weeks after release is pathetic.

Cole’s entire persona has always been based off being the humble sideline story, the self-made man who produces his own tracks and needs no features, the aspiring hip-hopper who “Let Nas Down,” who admittedly writes “a number of bad refrains.” If one thing’s for certain, Cole’s not cut out for the battle rap game, and Might Delete Later is definitely the lamest shit he’s ever done in his fucking life.

Unfortunately for him, this surprise mixtape is a failure by every metric. The same old melodic beats and soulful samples that just repeat ad infinitum (e.g., the soft guitars that open “H.Y.B.” sound cool for a few seconds, then you realize that’s the extent of their musicality); the same old corny lines that try too hard to be clever (e.g., “We ball like TNT/watch these hoes all pick a side/Bitches flock like TMZ/every time we come outside” and, even worse, “I got a lot to get off of my sternum” – bro, why not just say “chest?”); the same old sideline story of rappers far greater than he that don’t give two shits about his perceived place in the hip hop pantheon (i.e., when legends like Nas and Kendrick keep hating on you, then it’s time to consider that you might be the problem).

Filled with noticeably false bravado and, yes, boring beats, Might Delete Later tanks Cole World’s value while serving as an anti-hype train for his forthcoming album, The Fall Off. You come at the king, you best not miss, and boy did J. Cole miss with this one.

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