Effected is Cozz’s third project since being signed to Dreamville, but it’s the 24-year-old’s most significant: He mixes skits, big-name features (Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Curren$y), and high-concept self-examinations (the five-minute “Demons N Distractions”). Anthems like “Dreams” notwithstanding, Cozz has always been drawn to ominous and spacious instrumentals that allow his emphatic, articulate flow plenty of room to vent. On Effected, he commits more than ever to this pared-down sound, and while he’s better than Cole at sliding between the boisterous and the introspective, he’s still working on finding the right balance.
Cole himself only shows up once, producing and rapping on late-album highlight “Zendaya” (which flips a pretty incredible Ivan Lins sample), but his influence is felt throughout: Songs like “My Love,” “Bout It,” and the first half of “Demons N Distractions” feature Cole’s signature half-groaned, singalong hooks. But while they more or less work for Cole, they fall short for Cozz. Unlike his more melodically inclined mentor, Cozz is a go-for-the-jugular rapper, relying on a steady stream of patient, snarling rhymes whose sheer forcefulness snap you to attention.
