First off, I just wanna say that the hype for this album was
unnecessary and a slight let down when actually listening to the album. Forest
Hills Drive was leaked, which is always unfortunate for rappers – especially
when such hard work was put into the project. But such is life and a part of
the game and industry that you entered, my nigga! Before writing a review I
always make sure I listen to the project twice. The first time just to see how
I feel and the second time so that I can be sure I know exactly how I feel and
don’t necessarily get anything imposed on me. The first time I listened to
Forest Hills Drive I was actually pretty disappointed. Halfway through I felt
like I was listening to Friday Night Lights and saw nothing special about this.
It was only from A Tale of 2 Citiez that
things started warming up and going uphill. Long story short – The second time
I listened to the album over, I had a whole new perspective and enjoyed very
second of it. With J. Cole’s soulful melodies carried throughout the album
along with his nice flows, dirty delivery and sexy punchlines, Forest Hills
Drive is a great way to end the year of rap. The album starts off quite laid
back, with typical Friday Night Lights/The Warm Up vibes to it. The tempo gradually
picks up and by G.O.M.D we’re knee-deep
in hard bass, surprising flows and sick punchlines being thrown in all
directions. Everything then slows down once again at Hello as we calm down to vibe with Jermaine once again as he
nostalgically spits. In terms of content, I will be a bit blunt and say that
there’s literally nothing new to see here. If you’ve listened to Friday Night
Lights, Truly Yours and Born Sinner (or any other three J. Cole projects) then
you’ve more or less already heard what he’s rapping about. As he says in 0’3 Adolesnece, “move along, nothing to
see…” But this isn’t to say its not dope though! As mentioned earlier, the
amount of hard work put into this album definitely comes thorugh. Some of my
favourite tracks would have to be A Tale
of 2 Citiez, G.O.M.D, Fire Squad, No
Role Modelz and the 14 miunte long outro Note To Self. Touching on things about his mother and brothers; the
harsh reality of being a dreamer in such a cold world; the brutality of
society; fucking bitches and just being Jermaine Cole, J. Cole delivered quite
a good album that can go down as one of the top releases of the year. It’s
position is debatable though. It feels like it’s been a minute since we last
had something new from J. Cole so it’s dope having some new stuff to vibe out
to. Thanks, J. Cole!
Content: 1.5/3
Production: 2 /3
Lyrics: 3/4
Total: 6.5/10
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