The Voice of the Loy Norrix Community

Knight Life

The Voice of the Loy Norrix Community

Knight Life

The Voice of the Loy Norrix Community

Knight Life

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(Photo Illustration) A student drives her car while talking to someone on the phone. This violates Kelsey’s Law which prohibits drivers from using their cell phone while driving.
Scholarship rewards $5,000 to high school students for bringing awareness to distracted teen driving
Sophia Wrzesinski and Flora Harper March 21, 2024

The Kelsey’s Law scholarship is open for submissions until Mar. 31. Hosted by the Michigan Auto Law, the scholarship awards a total of $5,000...

What are Your Spring Break Plans?
What are Your Spring Break Plans?
Isaac Atkinson and Stan Thomas March 21, 2024

Red Cross Supervisor Cindy Vandermeer prepares Teya Dawson for her blood donation. Dawson was a first-time donor.
NHS hosts a successful blood drive, saving lives in and out of the community
Isabella Figueroa, Chief Copy Editor • March 21, 2024

“My dad and my mom both needed blood products when they were still living, so it's just really important to me so that the blood stays local,”...

2014 Forest Hills Drive: J-Cole Steals the Crown

j cole
This is the cover of J-Coles album Forest Hills Drive

Released just before the end of 2014, probably to increase the effect of the title, “2014 Forest Hills Drive” is J-Cole’s third album under the Roc-Nation label. USA Today’s review of the album said that “Cole dreams bigger than most major-label rappers, but he has yet to realize that vision in LP format,” but I strongly disagree. Cole’s album covers a large spectrum of topics and moods, with songs like “January 28” starting the album off strong with a reflection on his career transitioning to “A Tale of Two Citiez” which has more of a Wu-Tang feel to it.
The unique thing about this album is that it features no guest artists on any songs, which puts a lot of pressure on Cole to carry the album on his own. He even handles a few of the choruses on his own, on tracks like “Hello” and  “Apparently,” which has lots of overlapping vocals and long instrumentals. The track “Fire Squad” even addresses some pretty controversial topics regarding the music industry and the corruption within.
Cole also didn’t release any singles from the album, releasing this quote from his instagram account“I want you to hear the album straight through, front to back.” This along with his lack of featured artists gave Cole some heat from big time music critics, but really opened up a lot for him personally.
The thing that makes it stand out from other rap/hip-hop is his emphasis on himself. His last track, “Note to Self” is a 14 minute ‘thank you’ normally featured on the inside pamphlet in the physical CD case. In this he states more than once that he doesn’t care how much the album sells, just that he loved making it and loved doing it. Whenever one thinks of an artist, you think of people who use their creativity to express themselves. J-Cole strikes me as the kind of person who would produce and record an album on his own because he wanted to do it his way, and I can’t think of a better way to make the music industry take a step back and think about the way they conduct business
As with all art, the album speaks to some listeners and is misunderstood by others. However, Forest Hills Drive has been talking to me for weeks and I have been listening.

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2014 Forest Hills Drive: J-Cole Steals the Crown