2014 Forest Hills Drive, this masterpiece was created by J. Cole. His music is perfect for those who want to feel that connection and understanding. Jermaine Lamarr Cole was born on January 28th, 1985 in a US military base. His mother was a German postal lady and his dad an African American Soldier. He is pretty open with talking about his past and even his father abandoning his mother and him. He’s had a rough life but he’s never let that be his excuse to be like everyone else with a similar upbringing. J Cole has been harmoniously influential since his first debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story ranking number one in 2011 Billboard 200. However… it didn’t stop there. That was just the beginning of the impacting legacy he only just started dabbling into in 2011. By the time he released his best album(warning:controversial) 2014 Forest Hills Drive he already had a net worth of 7 million. He continues expanding his audience reach by touching on over 3 types of music; R&B, Hip Hop, and poetry. If you’re ready to elevate your music taste, sit back, relax, and press play.

Have you ever loved an artist/song so much that you listened to their whole album? Yeah, probably not. People usually find one or two good songs and stick to them. Much like people loving only Wet Dreamz and No Role Models. However, I'm here to tell you, almost the whole album is gold. I’m a sucker for No Role Modelz but there’s one song that just stands out the most. That song is A Tale Of 2 Citiez. 

A Tale Of 2 Citiez represents a change of perspective, two sides of one coin, and complete duality. It starts with J Cole rapping about his childhood perspective but quickly it develops to a more realistic turn. He then starts to speak of a nightmare he had of being stuck within his city but realized he’s so used to his city no matter how others see it from outside looking in. Things are always different when you’re used to something. If it rains a lot where you live you start to bring your umbrella everywhere. If you see and hear gunshots a lot, you’re gonna start learning how to dodge them. He then talks about how people pulled up on his friend and robbed him. Following he repeats, “Hands in the air” or rather what they said to his friend. As the song continues you hear him start to lose touch with reality becoming more and more obsessed with a thug life. Then we see everything change when he’s no longer telling the robbery story from his friend’s point of view but his. There’s not many songs that are so descriptive and written so perfectly that you can imagine it as a movie in your head but this one is one of those songs, but don’t think he just stops there. 

This album is beautifully chaotic in its complete variety of music. It can go from deep meaningful but hype songs like A Tale Of 2 Citiez to songs telling you to count your blessings like Love Yourz. J Cole is an extremely gifted rapper/songwriter but more than that he’s a completely dualistic poet. He’ll show you different sides of the world and even what it looks like from other people’s eyes all just by pressing play. Press play on this album, just listen.