Cole's World and His Remarkable Concert Documentary

What was your home address growing up? You don't have to say it out loud, I'm not trying to steal your identity. Just think of it to yourself, and then let in all the associated feelings that come with it. Think about the thrilling highs and the crushing lows from you childhood. Or the quirks in your neighborhood that gave you comfort and the ones that made you wary. All these sensations come to life when you listen to 2014 Forest Hills Drive, and in J. Cole's new concert/documentary series on HBO, he opens up about his.

Revealing his deepest feelings is nothing new for Cole. Above all else, that willingness to be a open book is probably what's made him an overwhelming success. No other rapper can tell the story that he does on "Wet Dreamz" with that emotional complexity and intelligence, and he's so willing to do it throughout the entire process. You can hear that lyrical sharpness in all his songs, whether he's spitting verses about himself or something much bigger.

The concert depicts his homecoming show in Fayetteville, North Carolina. And interspersed between his performance on the album is footage from the small city. Just as Cole's humanness is always on display, this vividly depicts the ups and downs of Fayetteville. It's a city with an ethnically diverse community and strong military roots, along with serious blight and gun violence. He says it all in "A Tale of 2 Citiez." You're trapped in the Ville, but is that really such a bad thing?

Even though he's saying it about one specific place, that's how everyone feels about their hometown. It's far from perfect, but nostalgia and comfort are always baked in when it comes to mind. He captured the way everybody feels about home. There's no place like it, and every one of your traits was in some way forged by where you came from. Even if some white dude in Idaho can't connect with Cole on issues like black-on-black crime, he can at least relate to him on this overarching theme.

Once you pull the curtain back a little further, you begin to see J. Cole for his artistic vision that stretches beyond his lyrics. He practices beatmaking like Steph Curry practices free throws, claiming he has thousands that were thrown together just to keep up his skills that will never see the light of day. His bandmates are all gifted musicians vastly overqualified for playing hip-hop, butthey do it anyway because Cole stays so dedicated to his craft. He hired a drama student from Yale to help him design the set for his tour, which is inspired by a play from 115 fucking years ago. This guy is such a perfectionist that he needed to sit in on the tech crew's prep for his light show. And even though it was totally awesome, he wished for just a little more time to make it even better.

That's the kind of artistic neurosis that I can respect, and it's helped vault him to pole position in the race for rap supremacy (sorry Kendrick, it's true). He's earned the respect of rap fans and his rapping peers. How else do you think he's pulling Drake and Jay-Z to the rinky-dinky 10,000 capacity crowd at the Crown Coliseum? Drizzy even promised to come back every time J. Cole does a show in Toronto, so the 2-6 can expect plenty of visits from the 6 God.

Whether you've been on board since Friday Night Lights or have yet to hear "Power Trip," J. Cole's projects with HBO are worth your time. The concert opens us to his life and origins like we've never seen before, and the four short films that preceded the concert give us a great look into his creative process. His emotional openness and the transparency with which he works are a refreshing look in entertainment. I may have grown up nearly 500 miles away, but I feel like 2014 Forest Hills Drive was right next door. And you will too.