The reason why Cole doesn't get respect is that he doesn't want to be a tryhard critic bait artist like Kendrick. Unlike Kendrick who desperately tries to go out of his way to make """art""" and to please the critics, Cole just sticks to himself. Cole can easily make an artistic album but he doesn't want to because that's not WHO HE IS whereas Kendrick just wants to make artistic shit for the sake of making artistic shit so the white critics eat it up. Kendrick is going to continue to make concept albums because this is a cheap way to make his albums seem cohesive and more intellectual.
There's a reason why Cole is selling 500k+ per week while Kendrick isn't doing that well. It's simply because the people recognize this fact, that Cole is the man of the people because he sticks true to his values and beliefs instead of going out of his way to desperately try to seem different and unique like Kendrick does. This is why Cole is better than Kendrick in every way.
All I gotta say is that the critics will never understand Cole but the people will always understand Cole and will continue to make sure he goes platinum, sells out stadiums and get the accolades he deserves. The critics and the desperate music critics on Sup Forums and elsewhere are not true representatives of anything. They're elitists who hate on him for being true to himself and not selling out for the sake of being artistic or boundary-pushing. Cole in this way is a traditionalist. But he is good at what he does. And nobody can take that away from him no matter how many times his album gets panned by Pitchfork, The Needle Drop and other psuedo-intellectual music review places.
