J. Cole has released his 3rd Album 2014 Forest Hills Drive and is one in which the rapper has taken an unusual strategy of not releasing any singles prior to the release of the album. Itwas a risky move especially as he was meant to go toe to toe with Lil Wayne.

The album itself which doesn’t feature any collaborators sees J. Cole singing a lot more on this album and while he does pull it off well, it could do with some different voices on it to freshen it up. One thing that can’t be faulted though is J. Cole’s art of story-telling and he does this amazingly on Wet Dreamz. Cole however does switch it up on Fire Squad where he takes shots at Iggy Azalea, Justin Timberlake, Macklemore and Eminem.

The album is an album definitely you can put on and just vibe too and is one that will be enjoyed more over time and not just through one listen there is however in terms of his vocal sound he did I felt occasionally on the album sound very similar to Kendrick Lamar for an artist who considers himself to be the best he still isn’t I feel on the same level as Drake or Kendrick Lamar, he hasn’t sold as many as Drake nor delivered that classic album like Lamar and while Cole has improved its just not as much as his rivals but what you can guarantee with J. Cole is that you will get a good album and that essentially is what we have with 2014 Forest Hills Drive.

My tracks to listen to are – January 28th, Fire Squad, Wet Dreamz and St Tropez