The North Carolina native takes listeners on a reflective musical journey to his past just as convincingly as Nas did on his 1994 classic.
The roof top J.cole is casually seated on in his album’s cover art lends a clue into who is currently occupying hip hop’s throne.
After dropping the album of the summer in 2013, the “Born sinner” is back with another masterpiece that will surely make Nas proud. With no obvious singles for the radio and no famous guest appearances, his new offering titled, 2014 Forest Hills Drive is a musical experiment gone right.
However, is this album going to be remembered for years to come? Has the Dreamville founder composed a modern day Illmatic? Is this a rational comparison to make?
I know this sounds crazy but some parallels can certainly be drawn between the two albums. Like Illmatic, the album is well balanced and put together. Like Illmatic, 2014 Forest Hills Drive confronts social issues, tells interesting stories and depicts personal experiences with highly detailed first person narratives. The North Carolina native takes listeners on a reflective musical journey to his past just as convincingly as Nas did on his 1994 classic. Throughout the albums, both artists keep listeners captivated with their clever word play and flawless rhyme patterns over ear-bending instrumentals.
The buddha monk’s in your trunk, turn the bass up/Not stories by Aesop, place your loot up, parties I shoot up/Nas, I analyze, drop a jew-el, inhale from the L/School a fool well, you feel it like braille/It ain’t hard to tell, I kick a skill like Shaquille holds a pill/Vocabulary spills I’m Ill/plus Matic, I freak beats slam it like Iron Sheik/ Jam like a tec with correct techniques/ So analyze me, surprise me, but can’t magmatize me/ Scannin’ while you’re plannin’ ways to sabotage me/ I leave em froze like her-on in your nose/ Nas’ll rock well, it ain’t hard to tell
– Nas, “It Ain’t Hard to Tell”
The real is back, the ville is back/Flow bananas here, peel this back/And what you’ll find is, your highness/Can paint a picture that is vivid enough to cure blindness/Carolina’s finest, you knew that already/And turned to the greatest, I proved that already/And if you would like, I do it twice/I just sharpen my blade for a minute became lost in my ways/This for my niggas that was tossin’ the graves/Every so often I fade deep in my thoughts and get lost in the days/We used to play before your coffin was made/Just got the call nigga got caught with a stray/Hope he’s okay/Just got paid what Cochran got paid to free OJ/Just to share my life on the stage in front of strangers/Who know a nigga far too well, and that’s the danger/Know me better than I know myself/I rip a page out my notebook in anger. And let these thoughts linger
– J.Cole, ”January 28th”
Based on the strength of this quotable alone, Can we now conclude that J.Cole is the new Nas?
In 2006, Nas declared hip hop as an art form dead. His autopsy report pointed to too many rappers copying each other, jacking styles and ideas. He believed that there was no heart in hip hop anymore.
The emergence of the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Drake and J.cole has resurrected excitement in hip hop purists about the art form. However, these talented three leaders of the new school have not yet taken over Nasir Jone’s place in the annals of rap. In the words of J.cole ( taken off “January 28”), “show me New York’s ladder/I climb it and set the bar so high that you gotta get Obama to force the air force to find it.” Ironically Nas has done exactly that. Over the years, he has simply set a bar (not impossible) but difficult to get to. This is why it might take a few more years to know if J.cole is the reincarnation of the legendary Queens Bridge poet.
Why Illmatic is timeless
Over the years, numerous Music writers have described Illmatic as the best hip-hop album ever made and credited it with reviving the east coast rap scene. It has also been cited as a commentary on hip-hop’s evolution.
In Illmatic, one finds the meaning not just of hip-hop, but of music itself. One of the blaring themes of the project is the struggle of youth in his neighbourhood to retain their freedom. The 20 year old rapper at the time skilfully revolutionized hip-hop with intricate detail to his description of the streets. The album became a benchmark for up and coming rap artists.
Despite its initial low sales, the album had a profound impact on the hip hop underground circuit, and marked a major stylistic change in hip hop music by introducing a new standard of lyricism. Illmatic has also received notable attention from scholars and authors outside the music industry.
Therefore, the answers to the earlier questions put forward in this article comes to mind. J.cole’s 2014 Forest Hill Drive might not be a modern day Illmatic but still has some ingredients of a timeless classic.
Why J.Cole’s album is a modern day classic
Why this album is a modern day illmatic to me is because of the simplicity of the overall message of the album and the musically enthralling way it was executed by J.Cole.
The album starts off from his struggle of wanting to be famous and making money. In the latter half of the album, he gradually matures and realizes that Hollywood is not what it seems to be and that making money is not everything. As a result, he changes his attention to strictly those he loves like his mother, fiancée and friends. The last three songs, “Apparently”, “Love yourz” and ”Note to self” drives home the main point of 2014 Forest Hill Drive.
The main themes of the album was love, understanding your foundation, and not buying into the superficial world of fame. These valuable lessons are shared as he cleverly takes the listener through a chronologically ordered account of his life. The album also entertains with tracks like “A Tale of two cities“ and “G.O.M.D.” while tracks like “Fire Squad” provides the controversial talking point of the album.
These are themes that the world needed to be reminded about. Like Illmatic, 2014 Forest Hill Drive has pushed the envelope of the art form. Unlike Nas, J.cole has created a collection of unapologetically sincere songs without the help of producers like Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S., and DJ Premier,
This was clearly an attempt to make a classic but rather than imitate the Queens Bridge hip hop royalty he looks up to, he instead opted to stay true to himself.
The core message of the album resonates with me.This is certainly an album worth buying and bumping in a car with a good sound system. Let’s see how I feel about it in 20 years’ time…..