February 27, 2018
Eric Friedberg
The sometimes thought-provoking adolescent lyrics of the 24-year-old boom bap rapper, Cozz, can typically be read in a single breath.
His teenaged old soul behavior is reflective through the lyrical content of stealing Pokémon cards, dating 45-year-old women and contradicting himself in the pursuit of becoming humble.
Releasing his new album “Effected” on Feb. 13, Cozz makes a heady interpretation of his inner thoughts and feelings about growing pains and learning from past mistakes.
The synthetic jazzy beats and atmospheric instrumentation on all tracks regarding “Effected,” skirts on the edge of aggressive and introspective, something that J Cole might’ve encouraged Cozz to do.
Throughout the album some immature content gets presented, but overall Cozz has an overarching theme of knowing what is best for himself: “See in this life we got choices and I decided I’ma shine the brightest, lookin’ like the colors on a koi fish.”
The softer more approachable side of Cole is seen in a few tracks like “Freaky 45” and “My Love,” which overall gets sapped put next to harder songs such as “Zendaya” and “Demons N Distractions.”
Although it’s great seeing a young rapper take influence from the one rapper that took him under his wing, J Cole might not be the perfect person to hat- tip from in regards to in regards to Cozz.
Cozz recently signed with Dreamville Imprint, J Cole’s record label, which explains the atmospheric instrumentation of “Effected.” He did this to grab more people’s attention in the music scene, which he makes reference to throughout the album.
On half of the record, Cozz loses touch with his verse/chorus relationship. Instead, he spits rapid-fire lyrics in a conversational tone. This creates an authentic style with a feeling that Cozz is rapping exactly what he is thinking at that moment in time.
If only Cozz had a bit more consistent with thoughtful subject matter to speak on. Cozz rides on the fringes between introspective and immature.
“Questions,” the first song on the record, speaks of the structural integrity of past friendships and their work ethics, but never comes up with any answers. This leaves the listener with no real takeaways.
While the song “Freaky 45” is a hilarious track that touches on his fantasies of dating a 45-year-old woman and abandoning all other relationships in his life, it’s a complete contradiction from “Questions.”
The song is a little hard to take seriously, especially after hearing the track “Ignorance Confidence,” a bass heavy song that proves to listeners that Cozz can write fearless, bass heavy songs.
But in the song “Demons N Distractions,” things start to make a little more sense. The song touch’s on Cozz’s acceptance with his introverted tendencies.
Even if you aren’t so much of a lyric person, you can imagine yourself in the back of Cozz’s smoky car with all his friends listening to the West coast influenced beats, like the ones in “Effected.”