J. Cole has me Thinking... What's Next for this Guy?

Thanks to my friend Christina (follow her on Tumblr), there's a new song for me to dissect.  Rap artist J. Cole has a song entitled "Work Out" that has me questioning his motives and his next moves/trend.

Listen:

Now J. Cole is HANDS DOWN a favorite on the rap scene.  But Dre (Taye Diggs) and Sidney (Sanaa Lathan), Brown Sugar's dynamic duo, would have been a little disappointed with J. Cole on this one, I think.

Why?

Because it seems as if he's abandoned real hip hop on this one.  The beat is hot (love the Paula Abdul addition, too) and there's no doubt that it could possibly be a club banger (I'm bopping my head to it as I write this); but it's not his style at all.  Lord knows I'm not comparing him at all to Drake, but I see it more as a transition into new music-- singing on his own hook and rapping on the next.  Is this what Mr. Cole wants to do?

Honestly, I think it was just a test, just to see whether people would be more in tune with this type of music (which is what's getting more air time), to see if he's a flexible artist, or whether he should stick to what he's best at.

On the contrary, I want to hear more "Lights Please." I want to hear more of the verses I heard on Miguel's hit, "All I want is You." "Loosing My Balance...," "In the Morning," "Nothing Like It..." these are the reasons why I fell in love with his music.  No garbage lines were permitted in these brilliant selections (just to name a few).

In my opinion, everyone has a gift, and J. Cole could run the mic in any hip hop battle he chooses.  And it's okay to have a couple of songs like "Work Out" (since they only have a short shelf life); but songs like these won't allow him to exercise his skills as needed.

What's your take? Am I over analyzing this one?