2014 Forest Hills Drive received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 67, based on 17 reviews. Having surpassed Rick Ross’ Mastermind LP with an incredible 361,120 units sold in its first week, 2014 Forest Hills Drive finds marks J. Cole’s third No. 1 album in his career. Nostalgic, refreshing and a genuine effort that — despite his common placement as the butt of most nap jokes — is most certainly not an album to be slept on. Moreover, it is a conscious hip-hop story that emits a real sense of freedom and truth. The 13-track project finds Jermaine taking a step back from the boardroom and instead into his Fayetteville, North Carolina bedroom to make a body of work guaranteed to leave admirers of The Warm Up and Friday Night Lights pleasantly surprised by what they hear. Albeit, the marketing strategy for this album saw him take the Shia Labeouf route and become an anti-celebrity: taking multiple trips to meet fans across the country, buying out a cinema to enjoy a Chris Rock film with supporters, and giving various fans the opportunity to hear his LP in advance by arriving on their doorstep. 2014 Forest Hills Drive Review GeniusHowever, this album surpasses its predecessors as one of his most selfish exertions yet; seeing him candidly give the middle finger to the current state of rap music by creating a project that preaches about love, happiness and truth as opposed to unlocking the cheat code to attain a quick hit through fat synth basslines on a bed of monophonic melodies. Because, as he questions on the album, “don’t nobody sing about it no more?”. One rather obvious attribute to 2014 Forest Hills Drive is its instrumentation. Production-wise, Cole incorporates a variety of live instruments alongside an array of homage-paying samples such as 2Pac, Mobb Deep and The Notorious B.I.G. However, it is the sample on “G.O.M.D” that rings the loudest. It is sampled from Branford Marsalis’ “Berta, Berta,” a slave work-song taken from August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson play. Despite the obvious connection between the sample used and the lyrical content of this particular track — which is a blatant refusal at becoming a slave to the music industry — there is a dichotomy in the storytelling of this song. Named after the address of his childhood home in North Carolina, 's third studio effort was released with no supporting singles, and there are no featured artists, either, because is one of those personal, conceptual, and 'heavy' albums. Most importantly, it's admirable bordering on excellent, sure to inspire returning fans to herald it as a classic even if it doesn't woo the skeptical, casually wandering out of its intro with two smooth and soulful numbers that are so free, they're just shy of being clumsy. Key cut 'January 28th' puts gut-wrenching hard truths of the type ('What's the price for a black man's life?/I check the toe tag, not one zero in sight') next to wobbly wordplay that could have been lifted off some old LP ('Flow is bananas/Here, peel this back'), while 'Wet Dreamz' finds the producer offering a beat that's rather or inspired, and then slathering it in plush strings for a perfect single on an album that refuses singles. Later, 'No Role Modelz' mixes a tribute to the late actor James Avery ('Rest in peace Uncle Phil'), with a bubbling beat that's a variation on cloud-rap (co-produced by and ), and a snarky, snappy set of put downs that are like an elevated ('I don't want no bitch from reality shows/Out of touch with reality hos'), but all these flights of fancy fly freely since the album lacks an anchor. Comes off as a great, experimental, and advancing mixtape, but it's insider to a fault, as slight as that fault might be. Elite Insiders| Diduric Jean Claude Typically I hate the standard approach of Album reviews. I don’t think its fair for one person to control the minds of its readers and listeners with their opinion. Just because one person likes or dislikes a certain record and writes about it, that’s suppose to set the tone on whether you will like or dislike the record as well. Then you go into the entire process with a preconceived thought of the project. It’s unfair for the listener and the artist. For my first Album Review ever, I wanted to switch things up. 2014 Forest Hills Drive Album ReviewRather than expressing what I thought about the album, I tried to tap into what I thought the album was about, the message Jermaine was trying to get across. Track by Track. Intro On August 15 th, Cole released a song called “Be Free.” It was a cry for true freedom or fairness for African American’s following the murder of 17 Year Old Michael Brown. ![]() Cole in morose tone over subtle keys and no percussion cries, “all we want to do is break the chains off, all we want to do is be free.” Whether or not any work had already begun for 2014 Forest Hills Drive, at the moment that song released, for listeners, that was the beginning of the Album. In this intro track, Cole remains in the same melancholy state over a similar subtle arrangement of keys and again, no percussion. This time his cries come with curiosity asking, “Do you want to be happy,” the main focus of the album. Next January 28 th Happy Birthday Jermaine Cole! This was Cole’s letter to himself. But nonetheless, so much could be taken from this record and applied personally. While in reminiscent thought of some late friends, Cole begins to appreciate his success, his blessings and acknowledging that he’s “The greatest.” “Flow Bananas, here peel this back” he says two bars in. He still has to remind himself to set high goals, keep a purpose, keep a piece of himself to himself and stay true to who really is. Forest Hill Drive AlbumNext Wet Dreams “Let me Take Y’all Back Man.” This entire album brings back reflective thoughts of J. Cole’s second mixtape, The Warm Up. “Wet Dreams” definitely brings that feeling back. Cole tells a story about being a virgin and wanting to engage in sexual relations with a young lady in his math class. The thought of having sex with this young lady consumed Coles thoughts day in and day out. He walks us through his thoughts just as he did on “Dreams” featuring Brandon Hinds. Cole lies about not being a virgin and being a “pro” when it came to sexual activity to the young lady, thinking she’s done this before; and just before they do the do, She says, “I ain’t ever did this before, no.” Honesty is Key. Next 03’ Adolescence When the dark synths and bells opened up “03’ Adolescence,” the first thought was, Is Cole making a trap song? It all made sense once he got deeper into the verse. This is one of the deeper stories on the Album teaching the importance of self-comfort and appreciation of what you have. Cole’s focus was the flashy things he never had to impress the people he never knew. After seeing his friend selling drugs and making money, he figured that was avenue for him walk to get the things he wanted.
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