Today in 2014, J. Cole delivered his third studio album 2014 Forest Hills Drive, a project famously known for not having any other features. It proved to solidify Cole’s status as a top tier artist, landing at number one on the Billboard 200 thanks to 371,000 album equivalent units sold during its first week of release. As of last year, 2014 Forest Fills Drive has subsequently earned three Platinum certifications, making it J. Cole’s best selling album to date.
To celebrate its sixth year anniversary, J. Cole reached into the vault to unveil an unreleased visual for the album standout “Fire Squad,” which sees J. Cole in what is presumably a part of Africa in different locations. The track itself is produced by Cole and Vinylz and is centered around white privilege in hip hop, among other related topics:
“History repeats itself and that’s just how it goes, same way that these rappers always bite each others flows, same thing that my n***a Elvis did with Rock n Roll, Justin Timberlake, Eminem and then Macklemore/
While silly n***as argue over who gon’ snatch the crown, look around, my n***a, white people have snatched the sound, this year I’ll prolly go to the awards dappered down, watch Iggy win a Grammy as I try to crack a smile…/”
The release of the “Fire Squad” video is bittersweet for some, who were hoping that rumors of The Fall Off’s pending release were going to come to fruition this week. It all apparently started thanks to someone posing as Dreamville’s media director, who revealed the fake news on social media:
“Just landed in Raleigh with [Dreamville head Ibrahim Hamad]. Jermaines Album has been cleared for streaming services. The Fall Off 2020 will be dropping tonight, December 9th.”
Press play on J. Cole’s “Fire Squad” clip below.