J. Cole Speaks on Debut Album

original story posted October 22, 2009

“The stuff I'm doing makes the mixtapes sound wack.”

J. Cole's rise in the Hip-Hop industry has been chronicled through his mixtape series.  With “The Come Up,” the North Carolina native put his foot in the door and threw his voice in the air to see if it would carry and it must have worked as he caught the attention of Jay-Z.

Most recently he dropped “The Warm Up” which showcased a glimpse of things to come now that he was back behind Roc Nation.  The tape also sparked one of his favorite verses to date on the track “The Badness.”

Before stepping up to the stage in Seattle, Cole was able to have a sit down during an interview and speak more about having the dream fulfilled when he joined forces with Hov.

“I think every up and coming rapper is usually like

, ‘Man, if I could get my sh*t to Jay-Z or whatever, life would be better”.

Young Chris has continuously given props to Jigga and has been an admirer of the marks he has left in the game as a trendsetter and as an MC.

Some may think calling his mixtapes wack is an odd statement, as it has brought him to this point, but the rapper from Fayetteville assures that it just shows the magnitude of what is in store.

“It's not really wack, it's just how good the stuff for the album is.  I got songs that I saved for the album that I would never throw on the mixtape and I got new stuff that's blowing everything out of the water.  It's coming along good.  It feels like I'm going to have the album ready to go sooner than I thought.”

Aside from his work on “A Star Is Born” Cole will be giving the assist on Wale's debut Attention: Deficitalong with working on his own project which is due in Spring/Summer 2010, if not sooner.  The third mixtape, The Next Up, should be on its way sooner than later.

Being put to the ultimate test and seeing what the lifestyle of a rapper has in store, Cole is touring with Jay as he has performed on grand stages such as The Key Arena in Seattle with 8,000 to 12,000 in attendance.

Certain people are able to step into the spotlight and take over whereas others fold under the pressure.  With the ball in Cole's court, let's see what he can do with it.