Amaan (Spotify: asyed11), you’ve been recommending this album since last semester and I finally relented. My only regret: not listening to you and J. Cole earlier. This week’s Records Ranked album is the highly acclaimed, award winning 2014 Forest Hills Drive.

(2014 Forest Hills Drive Album Cover)

After listening to this album for the first time, the word that came to mind was “storytelling.” Upon the next several run throughs, the phrase that came to mind was “intricate, beautifully crafted, vivid storytelling.” The album is made up of short anecdotes of his life growing up in Fayetteville, North Carolina at the titular address. (2014 Forest Hills Drive to the right)

Cole is renowned for his ability to rap conversations effortlessly, both at the listener and creating dialogue, greatly enhancing the visualization of the story. This skill works in tandem with his innate talent of creating verses that not only build off each other but that are also perfectly metered, always the perfect number of syllables per rhyme.

I am hesitant to label 2014 Forest Hills Drive a concept album because I see each song as its own mini-tale rather than contributing to a plot that stretches over all thirteen songs. It helps piece together Cole’s youth and what made him into the person and artist he is today, but not one continuous story.

FHD is, however, a “conscious rap” album, addressing root problems ingrained in much of American society like the perpetual cycle of drug and gun violence that plagues marginalized communities. Not only does Cole tackle these issues, he incorporates his own analysis based off of his experiences growing up in a heavily disadvantaged environment. Track 4, “03’ Adolescence”, especially caught my ear regarding this and involves a dialogue between Cole and one of his friends who is a drug dealer. Jealous of his friend “getting his cash,” Cole asks how he can do the same, falling into the fascination of getting money quickly. To this, his friend responds in a serious manner that he is in fact jealous of Cole, who is set to graduate with a degree. J. Cole’s ability to seamlessly integrate intricate interactions into his songs is what makes his stories so powerful. They not only address a serious societal issue, but give the listener such a precise and realistic image to perceive in their own head.

Not all the songs address social problems however. Track 3, “Wet Dreamz”, is unquestionably one of the best tracks off the album and humorously tells the shenanigans that Cole went through during his adolescent age. Wrapped in irony, these rhymes tell a lighthearted story that contrasts from the dark clouds around him.

The song that stuck out the most was the last, “Note To Self”. This fourteen minute track starts with an accelerating piano riff that merges with a choir harmonizing a vocal “ah”. Cole soon comes on, singing (a deviation from his normal rapping) about how nothing really matters, neither you nor I. He speaks of how he believes there’s a greater tie “that holds us together” —love. This segment only takes 3 minutes and the remainder is something I have never heard in any album: a credit track. For the next 11 minutes, J. Cole thanks his family, his friends, his crew and production team, almost like an acceptance speech at an award ceremony. He makes it clear that completing this album is an accomplishment in and of itself as it was a bold personal testimony that was not a motif used in his earlier work. 

There is no doubt in my mind when I place 2014 Forest Hills Drive at spot number 1, clearly the best of what I have heard so far and most probably of the albums I have yet to review. 

Thanks Amaan.