4 Your Eyez Only is the fourth studio album by American rapper J. Cole. It was released on December 9, 2016, by Dreamville Records, Roc Nation and Interscope Records. The album was Cole's first release with Interscope—his previous albums were released by Columbia Records. 4 Your Eyez Only was released exactly two years after Cole's previous studio album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive.
Most of these recordings took place from 2015 to 2016, while the production on the album was primarily handled by Cole himself, alongside several other record producers such as Vinylz, Boi-1da, Cardiak, Ron Gilmore, Frank Dukes, Chargaux and Elite, among others. The album explores a variety of topics concerning the African American community including mass incarceration, racial discrimination, gang violence and depression. The two-part suite “She’s Mine” dives deeper into Cole's emotions and provides the album with another perspective: hope. The album also touches on other topics such as love and fatherhood.
The album was supported by two singles: "Deja Vu," and "Neighbors". All 10 songs from 4 Your Eyez Only debuted in the top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100. Cole achieved twelve simultaneous Hot 100 entries in a single week. Promoting the release, Cole released a one-hour documentary (by the same name) on April 15, 2017, on HBO, featuring music from the album. In June 2017, Cole embarked on the 4 Your Eyez Only World Tour, to promote the album.
4 Your Eyez Only debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 363,000 copies in its first week (492,000 with additional album-equivalent units), earning Cole his fourth consecutive number-one album in the country. It had the third-largest weekly sales for an album in 2016. The album also debuted at number one on Billboards Canadian Albums Chart. The reception for 4 Your Eyez Only was generally positive, with most critics praising the songwriting, and some calling it Cole's most mature album to date. It appeared on several music publications' year-end lists. On January 12, 2017, 4 Your Eyez Only was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, and was certified Platinum on April 7, 2017.
Background
On July 29, 2016, DJ Khaled released his ninth album, Major Key, the fifth track of which, titled "Jermaine's Interlude", features Cole. During his feature on that track, Cole declares, "Said all I could say, now I play with thoughts of retirement"—a line that had fans of Cole's wondering about the future of his music career. In October 2016, while performing at a live concert, Cole said that it would be his "last show for a very long time." However, on December 1, with no announcement from Cole himself, a pre-order for his fourth studio album, titled 4 Your Eyez Only was made available on iTunes Store, with a release date for December 9, 2016. Dreamville Records revealed 4 Your Eyez Only official track listing on December 6 through their Twitter account. According to a Twitter rep, there were 2.7 million tweets mentioning J. Cole or 4 Your Eyez Only between December 7 to 19, 2016. In January 2017, in an interview with The Huffington Post, Cole's manager and Dreamville president, Ibrahim Hamad revealed not even the label knew they would be releasing 4 Your Eyez Only until very late. By the time it actually came out only seven people had heard the album in its entirety.
Album artwork The photo that forms the basis of the cover art was shot by Anthony "Supreme" Thompson , who is a photographer and a fan of Cole's. The photo was shot in an Atlanta neighborhood in September 2016. Thompson explained on Instagram:
The cover art was revealed when the album was made available for pre-order on iTunes. XXL named it one of the best cover arts of 2016.
Recording and production
The majority of the album was recorded at a home and recording studio in North Carolina that Cole nicknamed the Sheltuh. Some sessions also took place at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, over the summer of 2016. On March 18, 2016, an incident occurred at the Sheltuh that inspired the making of the track, "Neighbors", Dreamville in-house producer, Elite explained the situation in an interview with Complex, saying:
According to Elite the title track "4 Your Eyez Only" started the entire concept of the album, he said:
The track "Ville Mentality" features a spoken interlude performed by a young girl. The girl was recorded by Cole while visiting and speaking with kids at an elementary school in his hometown, Fayetteville, North Carolina. The foundation for the track "For Whom the Bell Tolls" was produced by New York University student Elijah Scarlett, Dreamville president Ibrahim Hamad discovered the beat on SoundCloud in January 2016 and reached out to Scarlett. Cole provided co-production, Nico Segal, Anthony Ware, and Theo Croker added horns, while duo Chargaux added strings. 4 Your Eyez Only is Scarlett's first major production credit, having previously only collaborated with friends. Producer Cardiak with help from Frank Dukes created the beat for the track "Immortal" with Cole in mind shortly after the release of Cole's previous album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive. In an interview with XXL magazine Cardiak said, "You know I was just always working on stuff for J. Cole. I had a idea of like the type of tracks he wanted, the sound and all that. I was just crafting a couple tracks. Shortly after 2014 Forest Hills Drive came out, I sent that beat over and he liked it and he told me to put it to the side and here we are today." Classical string duo Chargaux are credited on seven of the album's ten tracks, and were on many of the songs that got cut. They previously collaborated with Cole on the track "St. Tropez" from 2014 Forest Hills Drive. They provided string arrangements, background vocals and additional production on 4 Your Eyez Only.
Similar to his previous album, 4 Your Eyez Only contains no features, other than Dreamville signee Ari Lennox who provided additional vocals on the track "Change". Ibrahim Hamad (Cole's manager) spoke on it saying: "Cole's never gonna force anything. He's not the guy that's out, hanging out with rappers or in the studio with rappers all day. He's really in the studio with his team and making music with his producers and his artists. He's done songs with other people involved but it might not make the album. [His artist] Ari [Lennox's] voice made the album on "Change" because she came in, added something to it and it worked. If it doesn't work, Cole's not gonna put it on there because it's a name. He's never gonna put it on there just to say he got a feature." He continued saying, "He also didn't go into it like, "I'm gonna have no features on this album." He didn't go into Forest Hills Drive initially saying he was gonna have no features. That's just how it ended up. At the end of the day, the most important thing to him and to all of us is how do we get this point that we're trying to get through and how do we make the best version of a song?".
Lyrics and themes Lyrically, the album follows the story of a young man as he goes from selling crack to falling in love and starting a family. In the sixth track, "Change", it is revealed that he has died, and in the tenth and final track, we learn that almost the entire album is a tape he created for his daughter to listen to after he's gone. Upon release of 4 Your Eyez Only, many fans came up with theories about the meaning behind the album. Genius reached out to a source close to Dreamville, who confirmed that the storyline is about a real friend of Cole's, and that he changed the name to James for the sake of privacy. Casey Miller from the Daily Emerald described the album as "a track-by-track journey of a black man's experience of growing up in our nation, from encountering ghetto violence at a young age, suffering inescapable racial prejudices in real life and in the media and dealing with death and mortality. He also discusses falling in love and having a child, which provides a source of levity for the album because after all, not everything in life is tragic."
In an interview with Jon Caramanica for The New York Times in April 2017, Cole revealed that the album is told mostly through a character that's a composite of two men he grew up with in Fayetteville, Cole said:
Release and promotion
On December 2, 2016, Cole released a 40-minute documentary, titled Eyez via Tidal. The film features behind-the-scenes footage of Cole working with collaborators on the album, and was directed by Scott Lazer. The documentary also includes two music videos for the tracks "False Prophets" and "Everybody Dies". Both tracks were initially included on the album, however, both songs were omitted due to them not fitting the album's concept. The documentary was uploaded on Dreamville's YouTube channel on December 5, 2016.
To further promote the album, Cole announced 4 Your Eyez Only World Tour on February 21, 2017. The tour included 62 dates across North America, Europe and Australia. The first 13 dates took place in smaller, intimate venues, while the next set of dates took place in arenas. The tour began June 1, 2017, in Columbia, South Carolina and concluded December 9, in Perth, Australia. A limited edition 4 Your Eyez Only collectors set was made available for pre-order on February 22, 2017, via Dreamville's website, with a shipping and release date of April 28, 2017. The bundle included 4 Your Eyez Only on vinyl, cassette and CD, or you could purchase each individually, the set also included limited artwork and 4 Your Eyez Only tour pre-sale access. Dreamville artists J.I.D, Ari Lennox and Lute served as opening acts on the first leg of the tour. Singer Anderson Paak and rapper Bas served as opening acts on the second leg of the tour, along with J.I.D and Ari Lennox. EarthGang joined J.I.D and Ari Lennox as opening acts on the European leg. The tour grossed $40 million. On September 2, 2017, Cole performed his entire 4 Your Eyez Only Tour setlist at the Budweiser Made in America Festival in Philadelphia.
On March 24, 2017 HBO announced a second documentary with Cole tiled, J. Cole: 4 Your Eyez Only, the first being Forest Hills Drive: Homecoming in 2016, the documentary aired April 15, 2017, on HBO and HBO Now. Incorporating music from 4 Your Eyez Only, Cole captured stories of residents in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Atlanta, Georgia, Ferguson, Missouri, his father's hometown, Jonesboro, Arkansas and his hometown, Fayetteville, North Carolina. Entertainment Weekly reported, "The documentary promises to illustrate how their struggles over viable housing, voting laws for felons, integration, and more mirror the frustrations felt across the nation." The documentary included security camera footage of a SWAT raid that took place on March 18, 2016, at Cole's North Carolina home studio, which served as inspiration for the track "Neighbors". Cole also previewed new music in the documentary. The film was directed by Cole and Scott Lazer. The documentary was exclusively screened at the Troxy in London on April 19, 2017. On May 1, 2017, the film was uploaded on Dreamville's YouTube channel. Writing for Billboard, J'na Jefferson praised the film saying it "brings black perseverance to the forefront". Cole spoke about the documentary with The New York Times saying:
Singles On January 10, 2017, "Deja Vu" was serviced to American mainstream urban radio, as the album's first single. The single debuted at number 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Cole's first top 10 song. The single also debuted at number 4 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The track was produced by Vinylz and Boi-1da, with additional production from Cole, Ron Gilmore and Velous and samples "Swing My Way" by K. P. & Envyi.