Hi, everyone. Ethan Eclipse Tano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. And what do I even say about this new J. Cole mixtape?

Outside of the obvious, I feel like this is a review that pretty much writes itself. Literally everything about this tape projects a very short shelf life because there's no possible way this thing is going to age in the same way records like 2014 Forest Hills Drive or KOD have. It's literally titled Might Delete Later. It's not exactly displaying confidence out of the gate. And neither is the inclusion of multiple features on this thing, as many fans may know. Even though this is a tape, it's not an album. J. Cole does usually like to handle things solo on these projects so he can later boast about how he went platinum and he did all these numbers with no features.

At least part of this project sees Cole with his arm twisted behind his back. He's crying uncle, because the final song on this record and a few other bars on this tape as well seem like they are just pretty much in response to the diss that Kendrick Lamar launched against him and Drake on the recent Metro Boomin and Future project, We Don't Trust You. I don't even need to explain how that response was lame or why it's lame at this point, because J. Cole himself admitted that it was and apologized for it at the recent performance that he did at Dreamville Fest, the weekend that this response, "7 Minute Drill," came out. So again, clearly from the apology, from the title, this is not J. Cole's proudest moment.

When you dig deeper into the actual songs on this thing, they're not up to usual Cole quality standards. He has made way better and more memorable music in the past. It seems like on at least a few of these cuts, his the heart wasn't really in it. You have to wonder why. Are the songs extras? Were they rushed? Is it just cutting room floor stuff? I mean, in the first 30 seconds of the opening track on this thing, we're firing off Rick & Morty bars. And while the flow and the beat are passable, there are quite a few bragging and threatening lines that were cringe on impact but now read especially weird post-Kendrick Lamar Apology. "Me to you's a cyanide pill to a little cough drop."

Not to mention the Gucci Mane spoken word outro on this thing is really forced, not quite as deep as it thinks it is. The similar inclusion of Trae the Truth toward the end of this tape goes for a similar thing but pulls it off a lot better. Then the following "Crocodile Tears" is a more passable listen, but flow-wise, energy-wise, instrumentally, too, this is pretty much just an If You're Reading This, It's Too Late era Drake's song. Why is Cole dropping a tape just to release Drake songs?

The song "Fever," later on the tape, is just a super poppy, melodic, sweet, danceable Drake song. Again, Cole tape, Cole project. Why are we getting Drake songs done by Cole?

And I suppose, speaking of derivative, we also have this Cam'ron crossover that calls back to the Dipset era between Cole's flows and also the soul chops in the instrumental. Some of the basic elements are there, but there's no real vocal chemistry or magic going on between Cole and Cam. Maybe the total inability to gather any excitement around appearances like this is the reason Cole is not doing too many features on his albums. You have to wonder.

And then on 'H.Y.B.," I feel like as far as Cole's pen game, we truly are regressing. I mean, his The Off-Season record that he dropped not too long ago, I liked that album, and I actually think it was Cole's best so far. The progression he was making on that record really showed a bright future for Cole, especially given that the usual handful of totally whack, intolerable lines were down to either a few or were just nonexistent. We are going back to those places back to that stage of Cole's career on some of these songs, namely "H.Y.B.," where you're getting this horrendous bar where he's reciting the ABCs except for the letter L, because as a child, L? What's I haven't been known to take an L. I don't even know what an L is. You took a damn L on this tape. What?

I'm not sure if a J. Cole bar has aged like milk harder. I mean, at least that Jada / Will love line from back in the day had some shelf life to it, where it made sense. A grace period before we had to reach our eventual disillusion with it. Then there's the song "Pi," where J. Cole allows battle rapper Daylyt and Top Dog Entertainment's Ab-Soul, he lets them do these insane trades all over the beat that are killer, that are lyrical, that are impressive. Honestly, they make for the best moment on the tape. The best moment on this project is Ab Soul and Daylyt wrapping at each other. It is not a Cole bar, it is not a Cole performance, it is not a Cole anything especially in the case of this track, because it's not too long after this incredible performance from these two that Cole comes through with this absolutely gross and transphobic bar.

"They plead the fifth, I'm seeing hints of a trans fella / In cancel culture's vicinity, he's no killer, trust me / Beneath his chosen identity, there's still a pussy, period."

Given the way things have panned out post the release of this response to Kendrick, couldn't be more projection because it was Cole on that very track, pretending to be something that he wasn't. Somebody who wanted to beef, somebody who had the capacity to release a response to a diss track and have it be just as fiery, have it be convincing. Part of me even wonders, would his tune about apologizing and everything, would it have changed? Would it be different if the tables were turned and there wasn't this negative response to the diss? Because there was a lot of polarizing back and forth around seven minute drill with a lot of people heading on it because It was not a great retort.

Conversely, "Stealth Mode," I think, is actually one of the best tracks on the record, even if it is a little short and in need of some extra structuring, because it is on this track lyrically that J. Cole is actually being real about himself, his intentions, his feelings, that he's not really one to embrace the pressures of beef and grudges, which, yeah, that very much is him.

Then we have the closing track, the nightmare that it is. There are a few semi-hype cuts on the tape. "3001" is one, "Sticks and Stones" is the other. But tracks like this that are actually pretty decent, hard-hitting, are more the exception than the rule on this tape, which generally is very mid, very underwhelming, not great in terms of songwriting, refrains, stars delivery performance.

The features are not all that great either. And in the case, when they were on the song "Pi," they washed Cole out completely. So, yeah, I'm just not really sure what to say. This project is a disappointment through and through. It's one of the worst things Cole has ever put out, which maybe sounds harsh, but honestly, to be any nicer to it than that would be to acknowledge that what?

It's like somewhere in the ballpark of his past and successful albums, even his early mixtapes? No, it absolutely is not. This thing is not on the level of a Friday Night Lights or whatever. We have to paint this tape for what it is.

It is subpar, which is why I'm feeling a light 3 on it.

Have you given this thing a listen? Maybe you shouldn't.

Maybe Cole should just delete it later like he says he will.

Time to delete. Forever.