J. Cole has talked about how Drake impacted his breakthrough mixtape, The Warm Up, and how he first heard the Canadian superstar.
The Dreamville rapper remembered discovering Drizzy’s music on MySpace and being taken aback by his popularity in the second episode of his new audio series Inevitable, which follows him as he documents his entire career.
“I remember seeing this light-skinned n-gga who looked like he was from R&B on MySpace, and he had raps,” he remarked. “He was talking about women or something, but it was more like neo-soul raps, like on some Little Brother shit.” The n-gga has a really fluid manner throughout.
However, for an n-gga you’ve never heard of or been signed to, his plays were incredible! Who is this n-gga? I thought. How is it that he gets 20,000 plays in a single day?
He went on to say: “I discovered that a few years later, [Cole’s friend] Jessica Nabongo introduced me to this Drake song called ‘Sooner Than Later.'” “This shit is fucking amazing,” I thought. I played that crap back-to-back, n-gga.
It turned out that he had all of those plays since he was already well-known, something I was unaware of. I didn’t know Degrassi, and I had no idea who he was, but he was already an n-gga that was popping off of him.
Later in the show, J. Cole talked about how he was motivated to improve on The Warm Up after seeing the seismic impact of Drake’s own breakout effort, So Far Gone.
Cole remembered how he responded to Drizzy’s freestyle over Kanye West’s “Say You Will” in “Say What’s Real,” saying, “He fucking destroyed that shit.” The extent to which he bodied that fucking beat astounded me. “He’s fucking phenomenal,” I thought.
On the other hand, the song forced Cole, who at the time was set to sign with JAY-Z’s Roc Nation, to reconsider his self-assurance as a performer and acknowledge that he was not the only up-and-coming “relatable” rapper.
I was certain for a long time that I was the only one using that area, the only one with that viewpoint, and the only one with that sharp pen. “That’s going to be my thing, that’s what’s going to set me apart from the pack,” he remarked.
“I was astounded by how amazing [‘Say What’s Real’] sounded the moment I heard it. But two, I thought to myself, “Ha! The entire while, there was another person out there who might have been working as hard as I was, who shared my thoughts, and who had the same chance to take up a certain lane, for which I never saw any competition.
He went on: “I had no idea how well-known Drake was, I had no idea about the Young Money shit, I had no idea about any of that.” So Far Gone actually became a wave just a day after it was released.
We were really in Miami or whatever for spring break the following week, and not only were we playing that crap on the way down, but everyone was playing Drake So Far Gone when we arrived. And it was immediately apparent, “Oh sh*t! This change is absolutely amazing.
“I’m thinking, ‘Not only am I not alone in this room, but I’m starting late now! I have not yet finalized my agreement with Jay. I’m still not even a person. And with hits like culturally-shifting trash, this n-gga is off to the races. Drake just changed the game, therefore I had to modify my perspective on what The Warm Up was going to be at that precise time.
The following week, we were actually on spring break in Miami or whatever, and not only were we listening to that garbage on the way down, but when we got there, everyone was playing Drake So Far Gone. And it was clear right away, “Oh sh*t! This is a truly remarkable change.
“I’m thinking, ‘I’m starting late now, and I’m not alone in this room! Jay and I haven’t formalized our agreement yet. Even now, I’m not a person. This n-gga is off to the races with hits like culturally-shifting rubbish. I had to adjust my mind about what The Warm Up was going to be at that very moment because Drake had just altered the rules.
The Warm Up was originally intended to be a mixtape featuring freestyles such as “Just to Get By,” “Grown Simba,” and the “2012” song […]. It was going to be similar to practice. It was merely preparing me for what lay ahead.
The Warm Up was a 22-track cassette that mostly consisted of original songs, including future fan favorites like “Lights Please,” “Grown Simba,” and “I Get Up,” however it also include a few freestyles over vintage tracks by artists like JAY-Z and Kanye West.
Naturally, J. Cole and Drake would soon become collaborators after working together on “In the Morning,” which was featured on both Cole’s first album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, and his 2010 mixtape Friday Night Lights.
