“4 Your Eyez Only” serves as a message to James McMillian, Jr.’s newborn daughter, recounting memories. James McMillian, Jr. is a friend whom Cole speaks of throughout the album.

James' life story is first… Read More [Intro: J. Cole]

Yeah (For your eyes)

For your eyes only (For your eyes)

For your eyes only, for your eyes only

(For your eyes, for your eyes)

For your eyes only

[Verse 1: J. Cole]

Hey, niggas be dyin' on the daily

It seems my dreams faded for far too long

The consequences deadly

Can't visualize myself as nothin' but a criminal

Control the block, servin' up rocks and stay subliminal

'Cause young niggas is hardheaded, they lettin' off

Full of adrenaline, ignorant to what death can cause

Ain't no comin' back, family dressed in black

Plus it's hot now, the cops outside, it's hard to flip a pack

And my daughter gotta eat, her mama be stressin' me

Like I ain't the one who put them Js on her feet

Like I ain't out in the field like that

I might be low for the moment but I will bounce back

Despite the charges, back to the wall, I fight regardless

Screamin', "Fuck the law," my life is lawless

That's what you call it, ain't got to be no psychic

To see this is like the farthest thing from heaven

This is hell and I don't mean that hyperbolic

I try to find employment even if it's wipin' toilets

But these felonies be makin' life the hardest

Resistin' the temptation to run up and swipe a wallet

Or run up on your yard, snatch your daughter bike, and pawn it

That's why I write this sonnet

If the pressure get too much for me to take and I break

Play this tape for my daughter and let her know my life is on it

(For your eyes) Let her know my life is on it

(For your eyes) For your eyes only

[Chorus: J. Cole]

For your eyes, do you understand?

For your eyes, do you understand me?

For your eyes, do you understand?

For your eyes, do you understand me?

For your eyes, do you understand?

For your eyes, do you understand me?

For your eyes, do you understand?

For your eyes only

[Verse 2: J. Cole]

You prolly grown now, so this song'll hit you

If you hearin' this, unfortunately means that I'm no longer with you

In the physical, not even sure if I believe in God but because you still alive

He got me prayin' that the spiritual is real

So I can be a part of you still, my pops was killed too

So I know how part of you feels

Maybe you hate me, maybe you miss me, maybe you spite me

Life goes in cycles, maybe you'll date a nigga just like me

I hope not, I'm tired of dope spots

And fiends that smoke rocks

I've seen far too many niggas' hopes rot

I'm writin' this because me and the devil had a dance

Now I see death around the corner, 'pologizin' in advance

Don't know if I ever had a chance

At a glance, I'm a failure

Addicted to pushin' paraphernalia

But daddy had dreams once, my eyes had a gleam once

Innocence disappeared by the age of eight years

My pops shot up, drug-related, mama addicted

So Granny raised me in projects where thugs was hangin'

Blood was stainin' the concrete

Older niggas I loved, talked like they was above

Maintainin' a timesheet, that's slow money

Picked up the family business, by the age of thirteen

Six years later was handed sentence

'Round the same time is when you came in this world

Me and your mama thinkin':

"What the fuck we namin' this girl?"

I told her, "Nina," the prettiest name that I could think of (Most prettiest thing my eyes had ever seen)

For the prettiest thing my eyes had ever seen, I was nineteen

Took me two felonies to see the trap this crooked-ass system set for me

And now I fear it's too late for me to ever be

The one that set examples that was never set for me

I'm livin' fast, but not fast enough

'Cause karma keeps on catchin' up to me

And if my past becomes the death of me

I hope you understand

[Chorus: J. Cole]

For your eyes, do you understand?

For your eyes, do you understand me?

For your eyes, do you understand? (Hope you understand)

For your eyes, do you understand me?

For your eyes, do you understand? (Hope you understand)

For your eyes, do you understand me?

For your eyes, do you understand?

For your eyes only

[Verse 3: J. Cole]

It's several ways I could've went out, too many to count

Was it the trigger-happy crackers that the badges give clout?

Was it the young niggas, blastin' frustrated 'cause the cash runnin' out?

Niggas don't know how to act in a drought

See, baby girl, I realized my definition of a real nigga was skewed

My views misshaped by new mixtapes

That confirmed the shit I learned in the streets was true

That real niggas don't speak when they beef with you

They just pull up on your street, let the heat achoo

And if a real nigga hungry, he gon' eat your food

I was a fool, spent all my time duckin' school, duckin' cops

Duckin' rules, huggin' blocks that don't love you

I pray you find a nigga with goals and point of views

Much broader than the corner, if not it's gon' corner you

Into a box, where your son don't even know his pops

And the cyclical nature of doin' time continues

My worst fear is one day that you come home from school

And see your father face while hearin' 'bout tragedy on news

I got the strangest feelin' your daddy gonna lose his life soon

And sadly if you're listenin' now it must mean it's true

But maybe there's a chance that it's not

And this album remains locked in a hard drive like valuable jewels

And I can teach you this in person like I'm teachin' you to tie your own shoes

I love you and I hope to God I don't lose you

For your eyes only

[Chorus: CharGaux & J. Cole]

For your eyes, for your eyes only

For your eyes, for your eyes only

For your eyes, do you understand?

For your eyes only

[Verse 4: J. Cole]

One day your daddy called me, told me he had a funny feelin'

What he'd been dealin' with lately, he wasn't tellin'

I tried to pick his brains, still, he wasn't revealin'

But I could feel the sense of panic in his voice

And it was chillin', he said:

"Jermaine, I knew you since we was children

I never asked for nothin', when times was hard

I never had discussions with you, beggin' you to help me

I dealt with the repercussions of my actions

I know you tried to steer me 'way from that shit

But that shit was in my blood, you know my life

I know your momma, nigga, send my love

In case I never get a chance to speak again

I won't forget the weekends spent sleepin' at your crib

That's the way I wished my family lived

But my granny crib was in the 'jects"

I had to interject like:

"Nigga, what you talkin' 'bout? Fuck is you gettin' at?"

He said, "Listen, I got no time to dive into descriptions

But I been havin' premonitions

Just call it visions from the other side

I got a feelin' I won't see tomorrow

Like the time I'm livin' on is borrowed

With that said, the only thing I'm proud to say, I was a father

Write my story down, and if I pass

Go play it for my daughter when she ready"

And so I'm leavin' you this record, for your eyes only

Don't you ever scratch or disrespect it

This perspective is a real one, another lost 'Ville son

I dedicate these words to you and all the other children

Affected by the mass incarceration in this nation

That sent your pops to prison when he needed education

Sometimes I think that segregation would've done us better

Although I know that means that I would never

Be brought into this world 'cause my daddy was so thrilled

When he found him a white girl to take back to Jonesboro

With lil' Zach and Cole World, barely one years old

Now it's thirty years later, makin' sure this story's told

Girl, your daddy was a real nigga, not 'cause he was cold

Not because he was the first to get some pussy, twelve years old

Not because he used to come through in the Caddy on some vogues

Not because he went from baggin' up them grams to servin' O's

Nah, your daddy was a real nigga, not 'cause he was hard

Not because he lived a life of crime and sat behind some bars

Not because he screamed, "Fuck the law"

Although that was true

Your daddy was a real nigga 'cause he loved you

For your eyes only