By Martin Castro (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: January 7, 2015
A couple of points about Jermaine Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive: it could have been the best hip-hop record of the year. It wasn’t — and there’s a reason for that. However, 2014 FHD is probably the best-produced record of the year, and includes some of the best songs of the year.
The record starts off with an early-2000s R&B feel, especially on tracks like “Wet Dreamz” (a song that is a catchy yet awkward-to-listen-to depiction of the time Cole lost his virginity) and “’03 Adolescence.” Cole does a lot of singing on this record, a little too much for my taste. However, he makes up for it by coming out swinging on “Fire Squad,” one of the hardest-hitting tracks I’ve heard this year. Over some stellar production, Cole spits some of his best verses. Every verse on this song ends in a ridiculous way: Cole amps up the listener in preparation for a third verse that criticizes the commercial success of artists like Iggy Azalea and Justin Timberlake in a hilariously enjoyable way. (Fun fact: Cole is featured on a remix of JT’s “TKO” alongside Pusha T and A$AP Rocky, his verse is pretty ridiculous there, too.)
Cole also does an all right job on “Hello,” a track that sees Cole attempt to become a soul singer, along with “Apparently”; on both these songs, there’s a lot of singing, and then one exceptionally good verse. The other two standout tracks on the record are “No Role Modelz” and “G.O.M.D.”
“G.O.M.D.” sees Cole adapt quite an arrogant mindset; however, this track features some amazing production and some of Cole’s best rapping. Also, Cole goes crazy on this song, literally: “Hands up, everybody run / Cole outside and he say he got a gun.”
If it hadn’t been for Schoolboy Q’s Oxymoron and Royce Da 5’9”s PRhyme, 2014 Forest Hills Drive could have been the best hip-hop record of the year, which still places it really quite high. If Cole focuses his craft and keeps releasing material like this, hip-hop will be in good hands.
