J. Cole: 2014 Forest Hills Drive (2LP) [ROC NATION/COLUMBIA]

Why you'll love it

2014 Forest Hills Drive debuted at No. 1 with 353,000 copies in its first week and has gone 6x platinum, all with no singles or promo before it dropped. It won Album of the Year at the BET Hip Hop Awards and earned a Best Rap Album Grammy nod.

This edition

• 2LP set, 13 tracks
• Dreamville / Roc Nation / Columbia pressing (cat# B003732001)

About the album

J. Cole announced 2014 Forest Hills Drive three weeks before it came out, put out no singles, did no real promo and invited no big-name guests. It went to No. 1 anyway. That's the kind of trust he'd built with his fans, and this record repays it in full.

Named after the house in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where he grew up (and later bought back), it's a coming-of-age story told with warmth, humour and real honesty: first loves on "Wet Dreamz," the money-and-fame skepticism of "No Role Modelz" and "G.O.M.D.," and the closing reminder of "Love Yourz" that "there's no such thing as a life that's better than yours." Cole produced most of it himself, and it has gone 6x platinum and counting. Certified classic.

Also at Kops: more J. Cole on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Listen

On Dreamville / Roc Nation / Columbia (cat# B003732001), first out in 2014.