J. Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive Is The 1st Rap Album In 25 Years To Reach 2X Platinum With No Guests

At the time of its release, J. Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive was an outlier to a trend in Hip-Hop. The late 2014 Roc Nation/Columbia Records release contained 13 tracks and no feature verses of any kind. At the time of release, the North Carolina MC/producer earned his third consecutive #1 LP, and kept it moving. By early 2015, Cole received his first platinum album plaque care of the album (his others followed close behind), but the accolades have not stopped there.

This week, the RIAA confirmed that 2014 Forest Hills Drive is now a double-platinum album. As their database updates, the association confirmed the news on social media. This is believed to be the first Hip-Hop album in at least 25 years to achieve double platinum fanfare without any guest feature verses. This creative decision came after more than 20 years of artists using albums to introduce and develop in-house acts (which Cole has, thanks to Dreamville), as well as collaborate and cross-promote with other artists.

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Expanding further on that feat, J. Cole produced (with some additional personnel) at least 10 of the 13 songs on the album. Drake affiliate Vinylz and TDE/Digi+Phonics producer Willie B contributed, as !llmind, Cardiak, and CritiCal teamed for video single “Love Yourz.”

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2014 remains J. Cole’s most recent album. Previous album guests on the two earlier works included Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Missy Elliott and Roc Nation mentor Jay Z.