Album Review: J. Cole's Dreamville Artist Omen Drops 'Elephant Eyes'
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As Omen's "Things Change" featuring J. Cole began circulating, news of Omen's album "Elephant Eyes" and it's release finally came to fruition. The album is as you would expect from a Dreamville artist, pure fire.
(Stream the "Elephant Eyes" album Below)
"Things Change" is one of the standout tracks from the "Elephant Eyes" album because of the deep lyrics about the come up and the tough times growing up. Who better to help Omen get that message across than his Dreamville leader J. Cole. Cole has been wrecking it on the "2014 Forrest Hills Drive Tour," and now he has yet another artist to be proud of from his Dreamville crew.
-- omen (@omen) July 21, 2015
The album also features "Motion Picture" which happens to be the opening track and a track that was featured on the "Revenge of the Dreamers" mixtape featuring the entire Dreamville crew.
Cozz and Bas were the first Dreamville artists to release albums and Omen has followed his peers in grand fashion with "Elephant Eyes."
The production is spot on especially on tracks like "LoveDrug" featuring CJ Hamilton.
On the track Omen talks about the hypocrisies of fame and the influence that social media has when it comes to "stunting" and "fighting to be noticed." It's such a relevant topic today for people who simply put on a show on social media just to increase their follower count.
Things take a dark twist in "Same Jezebel" where Omen tells a story of a woman he thought was different until she showed her true colors.
The title track "Elephant Eyes" is beautifully done love song at first and then the beat drops and it's something spectacular.
Omen's lyrics blended with the near perfect production on this album is a match made in heaven and according to HipHopDX, Omen produced nine of the tracks off the album himself.
Songs like "Father Figure" will touch your soul due to the emotional content of a young boy growing up without a dad but still had many father figures in his life. It tugs at the heart to hear the words "don't go" repeated as a child asking their father to stay.
Meanwhile, "Sketches of Paranoia" features Bas, another Dreamville artist who is skilled at storytelling. Really and truly the Dreamville crew are among the best artists when it comes to relaying a story through Hip-Hop.
The albums final tracks like "Sweat It Out," "Foolish Pride," "Big Shadows" and "Zion" are all standouts on their own even with Omen claiming to be top five in "Big Shadows." The track highlights popular sidekicks like Murphy Lee and Spliff Star who unfortunately feel under the shadows of the bigger artists. All in all "Elephant Eyes" is solid Hip-Hop with incredible production and a great storytelling aspect that fans will enjoy.
You can stream the album below.