• Get Disk Drill and stay in full control of your data recovery and protection needs. • Undelete your lost data on system disks and external devices, memory cards and USB drives, other laptops, and computers. Whether you need to recover lost documents, videos, music or photos, Disk Drill for Windows has you covered. It features extra tools to maximize the chances and convenience of the recovery process. Disk drill pro.
J. Cole has come a long way from rapping about how to get up off the sideline. Three albums in, with2014 Forest Hills Drive, the “God” is home. The Fayetteville, North Carolina native composed an honest, nostalgic album without any apologies. Cole typically plays it safe, straddling the fence of a conscious rapper who can still create commercial hits and enjoy a good romp in the bed. “For the past four-five years of my career, I’ve always been very politically correct, riding that line. But at the end of the day, I realize I’m doing myself a disservice and I’m doing people a disservice because I could say one thing. If I’m speaking my mind and saying how I truly feel, I might say one thing that connects the dots for somebody, that might have been the right connection that was needed,” he directly admits during a recent interview with Angie Martinez.
The 13-track, featureless album opens up with “Intro,” an inquisitive song about liberation. A raspy-sounding Cole sings, “Do you wanna, do you wanna be, happy?” over a melancholy piano beat. His voice escalates as the track progresses and Cole begins to rap about getting free. When Cole asks, “Do you wanna be free?”, it’s as if he’s not only speaking to his listeners but speaking to himself, conscious of the fact that 2014 Forest Hills Drive is his most personal and poignant release.
2014 Forest Hill Drive Download Free
“What’s the price for a black man life?/I check the toe tag/Not one zero in sight/I turned the TV on/Not one hero in sight/Unless he dribble or he fiddle with mics,” hespits on “January 28th” before paying homage to his predecessors like Rakim, Big Daddy Kane and Slick Rick (only to follow up the recognition with a proclamation that he’s the rap God and they’re not). The Grammy-nominated artist then moves on to a 'dear diary'-type revelation of losing his virginity on “Wet Dreamz.” Cole continues to showcase the growth of his vulnerability and storytelling skills on “03 Adolescence,” an apologetic reference to admiring a drug-dealing friend, who looked up to a college-bound Cole. “He just laughed when he seen I was sure/17 years breathing, his demeanor said more/He told me/Nigga you know how you sound right now/You are my mans/I would think you that you a clown right now/Listen, you’re everything I wanna be that’s why I fucks with you/So how you looking up to me? When I look up to you/You bout to go get a degree I’mma be stuck with two choices,” he raps.
After scolding himself, the self-proclaimed 'king' specifically calls out a myriad of white artists (Eminem, Justin Timberlake, Macklemore and Iggy Azalea) for appropriating and co-opting black culture on “Fire Squad.” Some have deemed it a diss track, but it’s nothing of the sort. Before pointing fingers at his counterparts, he makes historical references to black music being stolen. Veering away from serious and controversial issues, Cole samples Project Pat on “No Role Modelz,” a comical ode to depthless women and hip-hop loveables like Trina, Aaliyah, dark skin Aunt Vivian (of 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'), Sade and Nia Long.
The Southern rapper closes out the album with reflections. Due to being fatherless, Cole deems himself unqualified to play step-dad on “Hello,” displaying a mixture of singing and fast rapping about a “sad” lost love. On “Apparently,” one of many tracks that Cole produces on his own, he references purchasing his childhood home (2014 Forest Hills Drive), which his mother previously lost to foreclosure. A regretful Cole unveils that he was too busy chasing women to comfort his mother during the traumatizing ordeal. By the end of the album, two things are certain: Jermaine Cole is cocky enough to claim the thrown and humble enough to request unity amongst fellow rappers, including those he took shots at. Cole may not be the king of rap, but at least this time he didn’t let Nas down.
With his third album, the North Carolina rapper J. Cole is certain he’s made his classic; he’ll tell you as much partway through the 15-minute credit roll “Note to Self”. In its quest to canonize, the record eschews both singles and guests: It’s a bold move, and where it floats, it soars, but it flops gloriously when it doesn’t.
J. Cole is a student of hip-hop, the kind who moves to New York to stalk Jay-Z for an opportunity to rap for him, peppers his lyrics with nods to the greats, and pens an apology to Nas when his biggest single comes across as too poppy. Cole is aware of the structure and pace of good rap albums and anxious to apply them to his own music. For his third record, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, he channels the nostalgic self-mythology of Jay-Z’s Black Album. The cover is shot at his childhood home as Eminem did on the Marshall Mathers LP. The tracklist swaps s’s for z’s (“Wet Dreamz”, “A Tale of 2 Citiez”, “Love Yourz”) like 2pac’s All Eyez on Me. With 2014, Cole is certain he’s made his classic; he’ll tell you as much partway through the 15-minute credit roll “Note to Self”, which apes Kanye West’s joyous, candid College Dropoutcloser “Last Call”. Problem is, Cole hasn’t earned it yet.
2014 Forest Hill Drive Download Full
J. Cole is a workmanlike MC, a good-natured populist grappling with the ridiculousness of sudden celebrity. He makes passable albums with memorable singles. He’s great at synthesizing everyman relationship woes into terse pop nuggets. He works well with guests; his collaborations with Drake, Missy Elliott, and TLC are highlights in his growing body of work, and he gets along so well with Kendrick Lamar that the duo is rumored to have clandestinely recorded an EP together. In its quest to canonize Cole, 2014 Forest Hills Drive eschews both singles and guests. It’s a block of Cole raps and Cole hooks served mostly over Cole beats. Bold move, and where it floats, it soars, but it flops gloriously when it doesn’t.
2014 Forest Hills Dr
The laughable wordplay fails of mixtapes albums past (“My money like a senior, watch it graduate,” “Cole heating up like that leftover lasagna”) are thankfully absent, but Cole isn’t yet sharp enough of a storyteller to carry a full album on his own. “Wet Dreamz” recounts his first time having sex in lurid detail, from lying to a girl about his prowess to looking at porn for pointers to finding out the girl’s been lying, too. It’s relatable but hardly the kind of story you want to hear more than once. “No Role Modelz” parlays a suspicion about a hookup being a golddigger into a tirade about black women lacking respectable public figures, crudely suggesting that “she’s shallow but the pussy deep.” (For all the talk of Cole’s enlightenment he’s a perfect brute when it comes to women, and “No Role Modelz” is something of a tacit admission.) 2014 Forest Hills Drive often plays at a depth it never delivers.
Still, ceding an entire hour to a rapper who works best in short bursts works better here than anyone could’ve expected. “03’ Adolescence” flips the classic rags-to-riches narrative inside out as Cole starts to reminisce about how hard he had it growing up only to get a chin check from a friend whose future isn’t half as bright. “G.O.M.D.”, “Fire Squad”, and “A Tale of 2 Citiez” all flash Cole’s technical excellence, while “Intro”, “Apparently”, and “St. Tropez” emote through his gruff singing voice. The production here is never less than delightful; Cole’s own beats run coyly referential samples through milky instrumental embellishments. “Wet Dreamz” is an adept “Impeach the President” flip, and “St. Tropez” reimagines Mobb Deep’s “Give Up the Goods (Just Step)” as sedate, orchestral R&B.
2014 Forest Hills Drive is Cole planting himself in the pantheon of rap greats, a volley to the spike of Kendrick Lamar’s “Control” verse. He gets more than a little ahead of himself, though, claiming to be better than Slick Rick, LL Cool J, Rakim, and Big Daddy Kane on “January 28th”. Kane and Rakim’s flows were tighter, LL’s swagger is inimitable, and Rick’s stories surge with a purpose nothing in J. Cole’s canon can muster. This self-aggrandizing pageantry is a ultimately bad look on a guy who earns his keep speaking to the struggles of the common man, and these songs work best when they’re not busy telling you how good they think they are. 2014 Forest Hills Drive is a decent album selling itself as great. It wraps itself in the garments of a classic, but you can see that the tailoring is off.
Back to home