If you need something fun to do this week, something to take your mind off of the world around you, try walking into your local bar or coffee shop and suggesting, in a loud voice, that “J. Cole is one of the greatest rappers alive.” You don’t have to believe it, you just have to say it loud enough for other people to think you believe it. At that point, put your hood up and flee the establishment; seek safe haven in a laundromat, bodega, or nearby alleyway. 

J. Cole is naturally divisive. To his detractors, he is a corny try-hard with no chops and an inflated ego; to his defenders, he is a talented, technically proficient rapper who makes his own beats and just does the best he darned well can. It’s not a casual disagreement; people get pissed. And with his new album, 4 Your Eyez Only, dropping yesterday, tempers are piquing again.

So 4 Your Eyez Only tops this weeks list of essential albums. It’s not a statement on its quality or importance as a piece of music so much as it is a suggestion to prepare for this holiday season by honing your argumentative chops. You’re probably going to need them.

J. Cole – 4 Your Eyez Only

Ab-Soul – Do What Thou Wilt.

Post Malone – Stoney

Peter Broderick – Grunewald

John Cale – Fragments of a Rainy Season

Hodgy – Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide

Charles Hamilton – Hamilton, Charles

Anthony Child – Electronic Recordings from Maui Jungle, Vol. 2

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