After spending much of 2016 like Luke Skywalker in last year’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” competing with the aforementioned Jedi Master for the title of most elusive, J. Cole emerged from out of the shadows to deliver his latest dose of audio theater, 4 Your Eyez Only.
The anticipation behind the album had been built into overdrive for the past week after the project randomly popped up on iTunes for pre-order and later received a 40-minute documentary “Eyez.” Of course, by now you know this visual sent rap fanatics into a frenzy thanks to the piercing previews of “False Prophets” and “Everybody Dies.”
J. Cole delivers harsh truth and calls out “False Prophets” in new ‘Eyez’ preview
Running at 10 songs, 4 Your Eyez Only is featureless much like 2014 Forest Hills Drive, which scored a double platinum certification and earned this famous 2016 meme. However, compared to the latter, Eyez is sonically way more cohesive and finds Cole at his most vulnerable. But underneath the narratives are a total of 34 contributors, in addition to Cole, who tackle everything from beats to string arrangements, additional vocals, and more.
Cole, who produced about five of the ten cuts, is also joined by additional beatsmiths like Vinylz, Boi-1da, Cardiak, Deputy, Childish Major, and more. For a full list of the credits and names involved, see below.
Executive Producer: Jermaine Cole & Ibrahim Hamad
Co-Executive Producer: Anthony “Elite” Parrino
A&R: Ibrahim Hamad
Creative Direction: Adam Roy Rodney
Marketing: Dreamville
Management: Ibrahim Hamad & Adam Roy Rodney
Cover Design: Delphine Diallo
Art Direction: Felton Brown
Photography: Anthony “Supreme” Thompson
Visual Direction: Scott Lazer
Recorded & Mixed: Juro “Mez” Davis
Mastered: Chris Anthens
1. “For Whom the Bell Tolls”
Written by Jermaine Cole. Produced by Elijah Scarlett, co-produced by J. Cole for Dreamvillain, admin. by Songs of Universal (BMI)
String arrangement by Chargaux, background vocals by Kay Foxx, horn arrangement by Nico Segal, additional horns by Anthony Ware and Theo Croker, additional musical arrangement by Nate Fox and Peter Cottontale. Recorded by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC. Mixed by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC and Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY. Assistant Engineers Beatriz Artola and Gosha Usov (Electric Lady Studios)
2. “Immortal”
Written by Jermaine Cole. Produced by Cardiak for Heartfelt Productions, Universal Music (BMI) and Frank Dukes for Nyan King Music, EMI Music (Socan). Additional production by J. Cole for Dreamvillain, admin. by Songs of Universal (BMI)
String arrangement by Chargaux, background vocals by Kay Foxx, live bass by Nate Jones. Beat provided by Matt McNeal. Recorded by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC. Mixed by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC and Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY. Assistant Engineers Beatriz Artola and Gosha Usov (Electric Lady Studios)
3. “Deja Vu”
Written by Jermaine Cole. Produced by Vinylz for Vinylz Music Group, Sony/ATV Music (ASCAP), Boi-1da for 1Damentional Publishing LLC, Sony/ATV Tunes LLC (ASCAP) and Velous for Tyler Bryant Publishing Designee. Additional production by J. Cole and Ron Gilmore.
Background vocals by Kay Foxx and live bass by Nate Jones. Recorded by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC. Mixed by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC and Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY. Assistant Engineers Beatriz Artola and Gosha Usov (Electric Lady Studios)
4. “Ville Mentality”
Written by Jermaine Cole. Produced by Ron Gilmore for Ron Gilmore Music (BMI) and Elite for Elite That’s Me (ASCAP.) Additional production by J. Cole.
String arrangement by Chargaux, background vocals by Kay Foxx, trumpet arrangement by Theo Croker. Recorded by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC. Mixed by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC and Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY. Assistant Engineers Beatriz Artola and Gosha Usov (Electric Lady Studios)
5. “She’s Mine Pt. 1″
Written by Jermaine Cole. Produced by J. Cole for Dreamvillain, admin. by Songs of Universal (BMI) and Deputy for JustCutDaCheck (ASCAP). Additional production by Ron Gilmore, Elite and Chargaux.
String arrangement by Chargaux, live bass and guitar by J. Cole, piano and rhodes by Ron Gilmore and Wurlitzer by Deputy. Assistant Engineers Beatriz Artola and Gosha Usov (Electric Lady Studios)
6. “Change”
Written by Jermaine Cole. Produced by J. Cole for Dreamvillain, admin. by Songs of Universal (BMI). Additional vocals by Ari Lennox, additional production by Ron Gilmore and additional arrangements by Elite.
String arrangement by Chargaux, live bass by J. Cole. Recorded by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC and Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY. Mixed by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC and Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY. Assistant Engineers Beatriz Areola and Gosha Usov (Electric Lady Studios)
7. “Neighbors”
Written by Jermaine Cole. Produced by J. Cole for Dreamvillain, admin. by Songs of Universal (BMI). Additional drums by Elite and Deputy, additional instrumentation by Ron Gilmore, and live bass by J. Cole. Recorded by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC. Mixed by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC and Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY. Assistant Engineers Beatriz Artola and Gosha Usov (Electric Lady Studios)
8. “Foldin Clothes”
Written by Jermaine Cole. Produced by J. Cole for Dreamvillain, admin. by Songs of Universal (BMI) and Steve Lacy for Steve Lacy (BMI). Additional production by Elite and Ron Gilmore.
Guitar and bass by Steven Lacy, talk box by Irvin Washington, background vocals by Steven Lacy and J. Cole, additional background vocals by TS Desandies and Brittany Carter. Talk box by Irvin Washington and additional live bass by J. Cole. Recorded by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC. Mixed by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC. Assistant Engineers Beatriz Artola and Gosha Usov (Electric Lady Studios)
9. “She’s Mine Pt. 2”
Written by Jermaine Cole. Produced by J. Cole for Dreamvillain, admin. by Songs of Universal (BMI) and Deputy for JustCutDaCheck (ASCAP). Additional production by Ron Gilmore, Elite and Chargaux.
String arrangement by Chargaux, live bass and guitar by J. Cole, piano and Rhodes by Ron Gilmore and Wurlitzer by Deputy. Recorded by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC. Mixed by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC and Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY. Assistant Engineers Beatriz Artola and Gosha Usov (Electric Lady Studios)
10. “4 Your Eyez Only”
Written by Jermaine Cole. Produced by BLVK. Co-produced by J. Cole for Dreamvillain, admin. by Songs of Universal (BMI) and Elite for Elite That’s Me (ASCAP). Additional production by Childish Major.
String arrangement and addiitonal vocals by Chargaux, additional strings by Nuno Malo, additional trumpet by Kyla Moscovich, guitar by David Linaburg, live bass by Nate Jones and additional drums by Carlin White. Piano, Rhodes and organ by Masayuki “BigYuki” Hirano. Recorded by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC. Mixed by Juro “Mez” Davis at the Sheltuh, Dreamville, NC and Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY. Assistant Engineers Beatriz Artola and Gosha Usov (Electric Lady Studios)