After a two-year wait and mounting expectations, Jay-Z’s 26-year-old protégé J. Cole gets off the bench and steps into the spotlight with his Roc Nation debut Cole World: The Sideline Story, in stores today. The North Carolina MC assembles an all-star team of talent including Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Drake, and Trey Songz on the 16 tracks. Does the hip-hop freshman have what it takes to play in the big leagues? The critics weigh in.

Rolling Stone: He’s a technically superb rapper, packing these sleek, snappy, mostly self-produced tracks with dozens of great punch lines. But while he tries to wring pathos out of everything from career struggles to unplanned pregnancies, the melodrama feels rote; the rhymes hit the mark but the stories leave you cold. 3.5/5

Entertainment Weekly: Bigger names in hip-hop have released albums this year, but few trump this debut. Cole, who’s been studying under label head Jay-Z for two years, seems to have learned plenty. Cole World: The Sideline Story is a well-rounded effort, and deeper than most, offering cuts that tackle unplanned pregnancy (“Lost Ones”) and uncertain love (“Nobody’s Perfect”). B+

USA Today: After waiting nearly two years for his mainstream debut, Jay-Z’s protégé shoulders the weight of expectations with a confident first effort. The North Carolina rapper tells his story of struggle and triumph with incisive rhymes over soulful beats that, for the most part, Cole produced himself. 3/4

The New York Times: Cole World captures the struggle between Mr. Cole’s natural gifts and the perceived exigencies of the marketplace. On this album he’s a slick rapper who spends too much time shouting and a thoughtful rapper who wears his bawdiness awkwardly.

Los Angeles Times: Even opposite Jay-Z in “Mr. Nice Watch” J. Cole sounds assured of his skills—and of the uncommon detail he brings to an otherwise familiar rags-to-riches narrative. But J. Cole’s early-onset veteran status also saps some of the energy you’d hope to hear on a debut as feverishly anticipated as this one, especially in cuts like “Never Told.” 2.5/4

The Washington Post: Cole is a deft rapper, clever but not obsessed with his own cleverness, interested in au courant beats but not fixated on them. There’s nothing particularly dramatic about his debut—it’s simply a better version of albums that get made all the time. Cole makes good songs almost great, and makes filler tolerable.

The Boston Globe: The story goes that Jay-Z told Cole he had his whole life to make his debut album. Cole may have taken that literally, but it was worth it.

Rap-Up’s Favorite Tracks: “Can’t Get Enough,” “Sideline Story,” “Nobody’s Perfect,” “Breakdown”