Forest Hills Drive Album Review
In the time since Cole’s last album, “2014 Forest Hills Drive,” the rapper has gotten married and had a daughter, and the conclusion of Cole’s personal narrative is evident throughout “4 Your Eyez Only.”.
- 2014 Forest Hills Drive is the third studio album by American rapper J. It was released on December 9, 2014, by Roc Nation, Dreamville Records, ByStorm Entertainment and Columbia Records. Recording sessions took place over the whole year, while the production on the album was primarily handled by Cole himself.
- On his third studio album, Forest Hills Drive, J. Cole forms his most personal work to date, cultivating this into the best hip-hop album of 2014.
On June 18, 2013, J. Cole went head-to-head with one of the rappers he looks up to the most, Kanye West, as their albums Born Sinner and Yeezus were released on the same day. Although Yeezus was received with more critical acclaim and sold more in the first week, do not chalk things up as a loss for Cole. J. Cole may have been only the second best rapper/producer on June 18th, but such a spin is selling the rapper short, as with his new and best album to date 2014 Forest Hills Drive, J. Cole has solidified himself a second only to Kanye when it comes to the best rapper/producer in music today.
Out of nowhere, 2014 Forest Hills Drive (Cole’s third studio album) was announced a month ago, as the album’s pre-order appeared on Amazon before J. Cole ever mentioned an upcoming project. Soon after, Cole formally announced the project launched a contest allowing a few lucky fans to travel to his childhood North Carolina home, where 2014 Forest Hills Drive gets its name, to hear the new album early and in its entirely. While the album hits shelves and iTunes on December 9th, through Roc Nation, the 13-track album is available now for streaming.
2014 Forest Hills Drive is J. Cole’s best album, and perhaps best project (which includes his fan-favorite mixtape Friday Night Lights), in almost all aspects. From its production, to Cole’s flow and lyrics, the album clearly shows Cole’s perfection of his process. His improvements from 2013’s Born Sinner in terms of lyrics are best demonstrated in ‘Fire Squad’, where Cole stakes his claim as a leader in rap with as much passion as Kendrick Lamar’s controversial ‘Control’ verse.
“Keep it true like me, Cole you might be, like the new Ice Cube, meets the new Ice-T, meets 2 Live Crew, meets the new Spike Lee, meets Bruce like Wayne, meets Bruce like Lee, meets ’02 Lil Wayne, in a new white tee, meets KD, ain’t no n*gga that can shoot like me! BLAOOOW!”
Cole then moves into topics of rap in rap music, comparing Elvis’ theft of rock and roll music from African Americas to the emergence of successful white rappers (specifically naming Eminem, Macklemore and Iggy Azalea). While many rappers can stunt and brag about their raps through their lyrics, Cole takes it to a higher level where his lyrics still carry meaning. It is one thing to brag about your C-Class Benz, it is another to rap about how you were not afraid to go “toe-to-toe” with Kanye West.
J. Cole sticks with his theme of being the hottest rapper out in ‘January 28th’, titled after Cole’s birthday as he raps “But check your birth date nigga, you ain’t the God. Nah you ain’t the God, n*gga Cole the God… January 28th.” While tooting his own horn, at the same time Cole is also paying homage to the man who signed him to Roc Nation, Jay-Z, as Hov’s classic project, The Black Album, contains the track ‘December 4th’ (titled after Jay-Z’s birthday). It worth noting though that Rick Ross also shares a January 28th birthday, so perhaps he is the Rap God also. Either way, happy birthday Jay-Z!
Cole also showcases his storytelling ability, specifically through his ‘Wet Dreamz’ track as a young Jermaine and his childhood love interest both share their first times having sex. Describing the memory vividly, at times rapping the parts of both characters, ‘Wet Dreamz’ is reminiscent of his track ‘Lights Please’ through its descriptive lyrics but with improved creativity in its story telling.
2014 Forest Hills Drive takes fans back to the place where J. Cole first began his journey towards the very top of hip-hop. It’s every Cole fan’s dream: thirteen tracks (including the intro and outro) of pure J. Cole with ten out of the thirteen songs having Cole’s name in the production credits. His third album under Roc Nation is the charm of his young professional career thus far. Finally he has dropped the worries of having a hot single and just made the album he wanted. It seems like Jay-Z gave him the opportunity to have most, if not all of the creative control Cole wanted on this album, and it paid off.
Cole is back in his comfortable place, back at his childhood home. This piece seems less like it’s about J. Cole the artist and more like it’s about Jermaine the person. The Dreamville Records leader portrays himself as the ordinary dude from North Carolina he started out as, and a lot of the storytelling on the album is relatable to the average Joe. This is especially true on “Wet Dreamz” which has Cole describing the events leading up to his first sexual encounter. The song is something so realistic and relatable, and is really one of the gems of the album. He follows up this personal anecdote with “03′ Adolescence,” a track about a teenage Cole searching for any way to make a quick buck. What both of these aforementioned songs have in common is a plot twist, and a very effective one at that. “Wet Dreamz” finds the rapper/producer lying to a girl about being a “pro” in bed, rhyming:
“I wrote back of course, I had sex before/
Knowing I was fronting.”
Forest Hills Drive Album Review
Meanwhile the whole time, unbeknownst to the narrator, the girl was also a rookie at the time:
“I can tell you a pro/
But baby be gentle/
’cause I aint never did this before.”
In “03′ adolescence,” Jermaine tells us he went to a friend who seemed to have it all and asked how he could get to that level. Surprisingly, his friend tells him that he wants to be more like Cole, and that it shouldn’t be the other way around. These two songs really show that the emcee is constantly improving; his storytelling and honesty has hit new heights on 2014 Forest Hills Drive.
The next two songs, “A Tale of 2 Citiez” and “Fire Squad,” give a surprisingly refreshing taste to the otherwise lyrically dense album. These tracks show fans that the North Carolina native can still get down and kill the mic when he wants to. Especially on “Fire Squad,” J. Cole clearly uses Drake‘s “Started From The Bottom” chorus as inspiration and it’s no coincidence that he later rhymes:
2014 Forest Hills Drive Album
“History repeats itself and that’s just how it goes/
Same way that these rappers always bite each others flows.”
It’s also on this song that the rapper famously name-drops Justin Timberlake, Eminem and Macklemore. It’s a play on of words that works very well. Additionally, J. Cole even gets a little singsongy on some songs. Of course he doesn’t have the voice of Miguel or The Weeknd, but “Love Yourz” is truly a feel good track that makes you sit back, feel positive and possibly reflect on you’re own life as the star of 2014 Forest Hills Drive raps and sings about appreciating your own life.
Throughout the album, it seems as if he is just trying to make the best music that people can relate to, and Cole’s honesty shines through and through. Tracks like “Love Yourz” that make you feel better about yourself is what makes J. Cole the artist that he is. He doesn’t worry about how much money he is going to make, he just wants to make the spirited music that he wants to make. He says it himself, if you stick around for the credits on the 14+minute-long track “Note To Self”:
“I don’t give a fuck if we sell three copies n**** , we kilt this shit!”
J. Cole takes us to 2014 Forest Hills Driveand lets us walk around the neighborhood in his shoes. He continues his everyday down-to-earth approach and it works really well in a project where the self-proclaimed “B-list” star seems very comfortable throwing out the need for forced radio singles. Arguably, a few songs could have been promoted as singles (see “Apparently”), but the fact that they weren’t speaks volumes to J. Cole’s goal for this project, as well as his versatility to make various styles of hip-hop music. An element of surprise or something rather unique would have been a plus, but this album remains fairly solid as is. Conclusively, 2014 Forest Hills Drive is a must-have for every J. Cole fan and for anyone who appreciates great, relatable hip-hop music.
Purchase 2014 Forest Hills Drive by J. Cole via iTunes Amazon.
Tracklisting:
1) Intro
2) January 28th
3) Wet Dreamz
4) 03′ Adolescence
5) A Tale of 2 Citiez
6) Fire Squad
7) St. Tropez
8) G.O.M.D.
9) No Role Modelz
10) Hello
11) Apparently
12) Love Yourz
13) Note to Self