Recording sessions took place over the whole year, while the production on the album was primarily handled by Cole himself, along with several others such as Illmind, Vinylz, Phonix Beats and Willie B.

2014 Forest Hills Drive received generally positive reviews from critics who admired its ambitious concept, production and lyrics.

The album's title is the address of a home in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where Cole lived from his early youth, until 2003.

[4] On August 15, 2014, Cole released the song "Be Free", as a response to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Additionally, the album's name sake was revealed to be the address of Cole's childhood home in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

[17][18] Cole held a listening session at the home on 2014 Forest Hills Drive where he invited a select group of fans to hear the album.

[22] Act 2 started on April 30, 2015, in Zürich, Switzerland and ended on May 18, 2015, in London, England, it featured Jhené Aiko and Pusha T. Act 3 was the longest leg of the tour, it started on July 12, 2015, in Seattle, Washington and ended on August 29, 2015, in Cole's hometown Fayetteville, North Carolina, and featured Big Sean, YG and Jeremih.

[28] Episode three was released on December 30, Kendrick Lamar, Wale, ASAP Ferg and Rihanna made appearances.

[34] On December 20, 2024, the tenth-year anniversary edition of 2014 Forest Hills Drive was released with eight additional then-unreleased songs.

[38] On May 2, 2016, in an interview with Larry King Now, actress Nia Long was asked about a line from the song where Cole raps, "My only regret was too young for Lisa Bonet, my only regret was too young for Nia Long, now all I'm left with is hoes from reality shows, hand her a script the bitch probably couldn't read along."

[48] Cole released the live music video for "Love Yourz" on January 28, 2016, the music video was filmed during his Forest Hills Drive Tour,[33] and on February 27, 2016, "Love Yourz" was released as the album's fourth and final single.

[63] Complex critic Justin Charity praised it as Cole's most mature and well-edited album to date, crediting him for eschewing "much of the whiplash and false bravado" of his previous work.

"[70] Kellan Miller of XXL stated, "With every quality drop from the self-proclaimed "God", his ceiling will continue to grow and so will fan expectations.

"[65] Jesal "Jay Soul" Padania of RapReviews said, "He been afforded a rare amount of artistic freedom on 2014 Forest Hills Drive and there aren't even any singles, so it's great that he's more or less delivered.

"[76] Marshall Gu of PopMatters said, "On 2014 Forest Hills Drive, we've still got the same ol' Cole, but with diminishing returns and without any friends to help him.

"[77] David Turner of Rolling Stone said, "He speaks some incisive truths about class, race ("Fire Squad") and relationships ("Wet Dreamz"), but those insights are too often undercut by crass humor.

"[71] Jason Gubbels of Spin said, "Cole's keen sense of injustice registers throughout 2014 Forest Hills Drive, whether slagging white artists for artistic thievery or seething over national media outlets pigeonholing black genius into sports/pop either / ors....

Unless you're the type of moviegoer who sits patiently through the end titles, feel free to duck out of "Note to Self" a bit early and head over to SoundCloud.

"[72] Robert Christgau gave the album a one-star honorable mention rating in his review for Cuepoint, naming "Wet Dreamz" and "Love Yourz" as highlights while summing the album up as being "full of the kind of good intentions the road to irrelevance is paved with".

[94] Cole became one of only six rappers to reach number one with their first three full-length studio albums, others being Drake, Rick Ross, Nelly, DMX and Snoop Dogg.