An unabashed personal essayist, Cole is beating the less-trodden path down Forest Hills Drive. There are no obvious singles or hit records here, nothing so peppy or else trap, with 'A Tale of 2 Citiez' serving as one possible exception. Cole seems ever adrift from the daily conversation about hip-hop supremacy and the real-time hype rankings. Since 'Power Trip' and 'Crooked Smile' minted his celebrity two summers ago, J. '2 Citiez' aside, the album is driven by the somber strokes of minor producers who've helped Cole resist the monotony of trap, which hardly suits him.

Otherwise, synth claps, booms, and screwed vocal samples abound, on the yappy, manic 'G.O.M.D.,' for instance, and the buzzed, tearful 'Hello.' As the album's standout track, 'A Tale of 2 Citiez' is a hybrid of two sensibilities: No I.D.'s and Noah '40' Shebib's, though neither giant produced for Cole on Forest Hills. Tropez,' with its prominent bass-and-melody nod to Mobb Deep's 'Give up the Goods,' are the rare 'soulful,' throwback beats. On Forest Hills, 'Wet Dreamz,' with its funky drumming in the foreground, and 'St. The album's production is sparse and dreamy, hardly as desperate and scattershot as the indie-cinematic clusterfuck that is Cole World, his 2011 debut. Cole's childhood friend, unnamed, clowns Cole out of his brief consideration of selling weed.Ĭole's fanbase has long been frustrated by this particular complaint, though Cole himself isn't fazed or altered by it on Forest Hills. Cole gives us the rundown of puberty and first crushes on 'Wet Dreamz,' a rough recollection of virginity lost: ' I knew I'd get played out, son/Hadn't been in pussy since the day I came out one.' Striking a more earnest note, ''03 Adolescence' is the story of how J. Cole's backstory with suburban anecdotes and surefire advice. Like Born Sinner, this latest project is a middle class retrospective on adolescence, with frequent obsession of the bitties he never smashed and the father he never admired. With no singles or obvious hit records, Forest Hills is the least canny tape in J.

On 2014 Forest Hills Drive, Cole's nervous laughter, woozy hooks, and post-pubescent confessionals are all too poignant, baring all, a tape as honest as so many love letters I should have written but should never have sent when I lived in the university dorms. The rapper who made 'Crooked Smile' and 'Let Nas Down' will never be mistaken for a tough guy, a tough nut, or a true cad.

Even in vulnerability, Cole tends to sound sunnier and, occasionally, clumsier than his peers, wearing hearts on both sleeves. Cole is hip-hop's resident 'aw, shucks!' rapper.

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