J. Cole Closes Forest Hills Drive Tour Making History In The Ville

J. Cole closed out the final act of his 'Forest Hills Drive Tour' this weekend in his hometown Fayetteville, NC. For the first time, Cole performed to a sold out crowd at the Crown Complex minutes away from the home that birthed his dream of becoming a rapper and inspired the title of his platinum selling album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive. Fellow Roc Nation artist Big Sean, YG, Jeremih and J. Cole's Dreamville artist Cozz, Bas and Omen accompanied Act III of the FHD Tour.


Traveling the world for the past five months on his three part tour, fulfilling his dream of selling out Madison Square Garden and the Staples Center, this homecoming performance was probably the most meaningful show to date for J. Cole. This tour, he decided to totally do it his way. Simple set, no outfit changes or fancy clothing, no extravagant graphics. Just him, his house set, the mic and the people.

Humbly, he spoke to a crowd filled with family, friends, day one fans and the small Fayetteville community about how important that moment was to him. As he turned up performing his entire third album and a few of his biggest hits, J. Cole strongly emphasized worthiness of big dreams, not getting stuck in a small town mentality and valuing true love in your life.

J. Cole closed out his performance with the final song of his album "Love Yourz," states his name and thanks fans for coming. The crowd looks astonished like "that's it?" Following a brief pause he's back onstage and the crowd is elated. This is a typical routine on the FHD Tour, done night after night but this ending would be different. Jeremih takes the stage for a second time as usual to perform his current #1 single "Planes" featuring Cole. After, Jeremih exits stage left.


A familiar beat come on and the audience doesn't seem to understand what's going on until about 10 seconds in. Drake runs onstage and the audience goes insane while he begins performing "Energy." The audience is completely in shock. He wraps up his short segment with "Know Yourself" and "Back to Back." Before making his exit, he lets the crowd know that he and J. Cole are more than just industry friends.

"I wanna let you know something about this guy right here. This is one of the most realest, greatest, genuine, talented mother fuckers I know. This is my brother I want to be at your wedding one day, you understand what I'm saying? We're family."

But wait, there's more! The hometown hero has one more surprise up his sleeve. "N*ggas In Paris" begins to play and now the crowd is going ape sh*t as they see none other than Jay Z.  It's not often you see Hov make an appearance onstage for a show that isn't his own so you know this had to be big! The Roc Nation chief exec mentioned knowing how long J. Cole had been planning that night and being asked, he couldn't deny his invitation. He graced the audience with "PSA," "F*ckwithmeyouknowIgotit," and "Clique" for the first time with Big Sean. If that wasn't a way to close out an incredible journey, not sure what else could do it.

His manager, friend and business partner Ibrahim Hamad expressed his excitement to Twitter on how much the final show meant to them:

"6 years ago Cole told me he's not doing a tour show in Fayetteville until he can sell out the Crown. Crown is sold out...Drake and Jay Z was in Fayetteville, NC tonight. Unreal bro, I'm happy as fuck for my brother Cole, that was a moment. Cole told me 6 years ago; yo if I go platinum I'm a ask Jay to come out to a show in the Ville. You can't make this shit up bro."

The Forest Hills Drive Tour sold over 570,000 tickets worldwide and grossed $20.4 million in the midst of the titled album selling over 1,000,000 units. If you've been following J. Cole's career for quite sometime or if you've only heard his most recent album, you've probably discovered he isn't anything like any other artist out right now. One thing he shared with each individual on tour whether on stage or in the audience is; it doesn't matter where you come from. If you can dream beyond your reality, if you believe you were meant to be somebody, put your value into things that matter, work hard and surround yourself with great people that you love, good things are bound to come your way.

For many of the individuals that attended Saturday night's show in Fayetteville, North Carolina it was their first time seeing any of those artist live before. To see the FHD Tour lineup, let alone Drake & Jay Z (and didn't have to travel to a bigger city) meant more to those people than what you'd think. That night is something they will never forget. The energy in the building all night was phenomenal. J. Cole not only made history in his hometown that night leaving the crowd inspired, he gave youth in Fayetteville that spark. For Cole, it was a full circle moment of how far he's come from the days he spent in that town, dreaming of making it out the city and one day coming back and selling out the Crown. Stand up guy J. Cole, stand up guy.

See more pics from the show below.