forest hills drive live from flayeltteville

Cole’s journey to return to former self, to Jermaine. ‘2014 Forest Hills Drive’ is somewhat split into two sections, the first has Cole looking back on his past as Jermaine Cole, the intro setting up his journey for emancipation from the industry and capitalist enslavement moving through his life from his birth to him going to College to gaining his record deal. The video contained footage pertaining to the making of the album where it was also revealed that the album name was the same address of Cole’s childhood home in Fayetteville, North Carolina. This being the sole method of album promotion. On November 16th, Cole released a video trailer within which he announced he would be releasing his 3rd Album ‘2014 Forest Hills Drive’ on December 9th. Outperforming his label’s predictions for sales, the album was successful in cementing itself in discussion as it spoke intelligently and creatively to it’s listeners. Produced without an intended vision for radio plays Born Sinner was strictly about the music. Cole’s 2013 release of Born Sinner was something that many recognized as something that Hip Hop had lacked for over a decade.

Its because of this time and thought that Cole puts into his music that I wanted to review 2014 Forest Hills Drive with a certain degree of detail. Everything fits and works together to achieve Cole’s desired effect and purpose. With every project you can see the thought that has been put into each aspect of his work from the lyrics to production all the way to the album artwork. The honesty of his music coupled with his wordplay creates imagery that effectively brings to the forefront dynamics of social and political turmoil.

Forest hills drive live from flayeltteville