The Evolution of J.Cole

I started listening to J.Cole after 2014 Forrest Hills Drive (as I assume most people started),and that album was a  classic in my opinion.Then I went back into Cole's catalogue and I realized a few things.Before Forrest Hills Drive,Cole rapped like a man who knew he was the best but wanted approval from the people.I don't know what happened during the making of Forrest Hills Drive,but whatever happened was a blessing,because during and after Forrest Hills,Cole didn't rap for approval he rapped with a newfound confidence,like a man who stopped trying to fit in and instead was comfortable in himself.You can even hear in songs like "Love Yourz" where he talks about how you won't be happy in life if you constantly compare yourself with anyone and don't appreciate what you have.Then 4 Your Eyez Only came out (my personal favorite Cole album) in my opinion this album is a classic storytelling album,on that album he took a different route than he did with Forrest Hills.On 4 Yours Eyez,you can hear a more vulnerable Cole,he opened himself up and wrote from the heart (not to say he didn't do that in his previous albums) and he expreminted with the sound on the album,because if you listen carefully  the beats on the album are completely different to the beats he rapped on prior.On the title track Cole completely goes into storytelling mode,from the first verse to the last you can't help but be drawn in,on the first few verses you think Cole is talking about himself until the last verse then he talks about how he was rapping from a friends perspective and telling that friends story,the song is one emotional rollercoaster. A couple years later he dropped KOD,where Cole raps like a man who sat back for a while and observed what was happening not only in the hip-hop scene,but in the entertainment industry and the world in general,he talks about dealing with pain (which is something people mostly black people don't talk about) he shared his own story of how he could have dealt with his pain better on the interlude "Once an Addict",he talks about how people spend most of their life chasing money,willing to go to extreme lengths to get it and look flashy even if it costs them an arm and a leg on the song ATM,every song on the album has an important message for people and talks about things people aren't willing or comfortable to talk about in public.Cole has not only grown as an artist but as a person too.