It’s hard to believe that we’re still over a month away from the arrival of J. Cole’s debut album. By the time ‘Cole World: The Sideline Story’ drops in September, the man known to his mother as Jermaine will have released three official mixtapes, singles and EPs too numerous to count and worked with everyone from Drake to Rihanna.
He’s also found time to be the first rapper signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label, pick up a Best New Artist nomination at the 2011 BET Awards and make number five on Vibe’s list of the 30 Greatest Rappers Under 30. Not bad for a kid from Fayetteville North Carolina.
The laid back feel of ‘Work Out’ will be familiar to those who have lapped up J. Cole’s earlier releases. A nagging vocoder loop recalling 2Pac and Dre’s ‘California Love’ underpins the tale of a chance encounter, with Cole asking ‘Is it the real thing/Or is it just a one night stand?’ The track effectively blends some very 2011 sounds with undeniably old-school influences, even throwing in a cheeky call-back to Paula Abdul’s ‘Straight Up’.
‘Work Out’ should serve as a mouth-watering taster for Cole’s debut album. For the faithful, the wait has been far too long, so you can expect it to go big once it finally hits. Once record is released he’ll be heading out on the road, first to the UK where he’ll be supporting Tinie Tempah on his autumn arena tour.
After he became the first artist to sign to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label, J Cole’s every move has been met with huge levels of hype. Perhaps in a bid to quell that hype, or indeed to stoke it up, Cole has been playing a waiting game with the listening public who have been breathlessly awaiting his debut album.
In the meantime he has been tossing them the odd morsel, mainly in the form of the occasional collaboration – naturally, one with Jay-Z – and a series of mixtapes. 2010′s ‘Friday Night Lights’ offering saw him team up with a number of artists, among them Canadian rapper Drake who was at the time just begging to tip the scales from the world of underground hip hop to the realm of mainstream pop. Drake co-stars on J Cole’s latest offering, ‘In The Morning’, a silky smooth slice of laid back R&B. Drake manages to inject a bit of humour with some references to his Aunt’s equestrian activities while J.Cole plays the straight man as the pair shift between verses as if they had been working together for years.
With a remix of Rihanna’s latest single in the bag, as well as waves of industry love, J Cole is likely to be one of 2011’s biggest hip hop success stories.
As we near the end of 2010 and continue our countdown of the year’s best tracks, our eyes are already looking ahead to what artists will dominate 2011. While there are many other polls predicting what records will soundtrack the year ahead, Shazam’s chart is unique as we look at what our users have been tagging in order to make our predictions. As our weekly pre-release charts show, our most popular tagged tracks often go on to dominate the charts in the UK & US.
Shazam’s Music & Content Director, Will Mills says: “The listening and buying public is the ultimate tastemaker and Shazamers have once again picked out some brilliant acts to watch in 2011, including Nero, Jessie J and Jay Electronica.
“Shazamers have had a great track record of choosing the breakout acts over the past three yearts, including highlighting Ellie Goulding and Nicki Minaj in 2010, Lady Gaga and Florence + The Machine in 2009 and The Ting Tings and Duffy in 2008. So this is one set of predictions people really need to take notice of.”
The emerging U.S acts chosen by Shazamers to most likely succeed in 2011 are:
Jay Electronica (Pictured)
MNDR
J Cole
CyHi Da Prince
Wiz Khalifa
The emerging UK acts chosen by Shazamers to most likely succeed in 2011 are:
25 year old rapper J Cole has probably had the best start to a rap career possible. He gained an almighty seal of approval from urban music kingpin Jay-Z when he became the first artist to sign to Roc Nation – Jay Z’s new record company founded after his split from Def Jam. His debut single has since been rocking the world of anyone who even has a passing interest in hip hop. Featuring a rapid fire lyrical style and some sturdy un-autotuned beats, J Cole is helping bring back authentic rap to the mainstream alongside new artists such as Wale and Drake.
The video for ‘Who Dat?’ is quite literally blowing up as it features a troupe of hood kids, a marching band and a series of expensive looking action-movie-esque explosions. The track also features a sample from Outkast’s classic slow burning jam ‘SpottieOttieDopalicious’- a much overlooked but none the less classic rap record that you can check below.
J Cole’s debut album is due for a winter release via Roc Nation.
