J COLE Vinyl & CDs

Review: Few people can be said to be a true hip-hop head lest they've heard 2014 Forest Hills Drive by J. Cole. The heartfelt, orchestrally-tempered album was released way back in 2014 (duh) and hears the rapper sing and speak eloquently of his bittersweet coming-of-age - telling many stories of his first loves, his adolescent angst, and his intentional avoidance of the wrong paths. Now lovingly reissued just in time for its 10th Anniversary, we're glad to hear the LP that helped establish Cole's romantic, reminiscent side won't stay out of the limelight.

Review: J Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive will likely go down in history as one of 2010s hip-hop's most emotive albums. Through various forces, we'd contend it found itself on the iPods of anyone so much as remotely interested in exploring hip-hop beyond the pales of Kendrick Lamar, Drake or Eminem. It put Cole on the map for many young listeners: the virginity-loss classic 'Love Yourz' is the obvious go-to hit, but it doesn't represent the rest of the album, which mostly falls into the category of gushing and nostalgic. '03 Adolescence' and 'Apparently' are our highlights, with Cole indulging emotive jazz-piano interludes and pop-rap production tropes, with his rhymes always circling back to the album's core subject matters: home, childhood, wrong paths, memories.