When J. Cole dropped his debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story back in September of 2011 he shared the release-date with the likes of Phonte, 9th Wonder, Evidence and more. Flash forward to 2013 and Cole is in a similar situation. Only this time the “competition” is Mac Miller, Statik Selektah and that one guy from Chicago. There are no worries coming from the North Carolina emcee though as he’s confident in the work he put in for the album.
The question is for y’all though: With Kanye West’s Yeezus, J. Cole’s Born Sinner, Statik Selektah’s Extended Play and Mac Miller’s Watching Movies With The Sound Off all scheduled to drop on June 18th, who will have the best album? And no… we’re not talking sales here, we’re talking quality music!
The other day, J. Cole surprised his fans by announcing his Sophomore album Born Sinner would be dropping a week earlier than originally scheduled. Speaking with Billboard, Cole breaks down the thought process that went down in his decision to drop the same day as Kanye West’s recently-announced Yeezus LP.
Instantly the lightbulb [turned on]… it got real. I made one phone call to somebody that would know, just to make sure first. As soon as I got it confirmed, I was like, ‘Yo…’ The idea hit me instantly: ‘You got to go to that date.’ I’m not going to sit [here]… I worked too hard to come a week later after Kanye West drops an amazing album. It’d be like, ‘Oh and J.Cole dropped too, a week later.’ Nah. I’m going to go see him on that date. He’s the greatest. So it’s like, I’m a competitor by nature so it was instant, it wasn’t even a thought. It’s a definite statement about how I feel about my album, which is confident. At the same time, let’s not forget this is Kanye West. He bets 100, 1,000, whatever the perfect is. His track record is flawless. I’m only expecting an incredible album from him. But I know what I have.
Too bad Fabolous decided to bow out of the action as it could’ve been Born Sinner, Yeezus, Loso’s Way 2 and Mac Miller’s Watching Movies With The Sound Off all on the same day. How crazy would that have been?
Fresh off his performance at the Hangout Festival in Alabama, Kendrick Lamar sat down with MTV to share his thoughts on Kanye West’s premiere of “New Slaves” (that was projected on 66 buildings across the world on Friday night) and his upcoming album Yeezus (check the artwork here).
On the premiere: It sounded crazy. That whole marketing scheme is crazy. It’s very inspiring. After a while you get to a point in hip-hop where certain tactics get watered down. How much music can you release on the Internet to get it hot? How many singles can you put out? How many videos can you possibly do?
On the album: That’s crazy, I want to hear that. That’s that creative Kanye genius stuff out the box … whatever way is his way of being creative and getting his message across through that album, that’s the culture. I can’t wait to hear it.
Earlier we got a random preview as well as a cheeky soo-woo’d-Yeezy II plug. UPDATE: Now here goes a better look at the official album cover for Kanye’s forthcoming LP, Yeezus, due June 18.
Yeezy Season continues. After last night’s street premiere of “New Slaves” in 10 cities projected on 66 buildings and confirming the June 18 release date for his next album Yeezus, Kanye West takes over tonight’s Saturday Night Live season finale as the special musical guest alongside host Ben Affleck. Check the premiere performances of “Black Skinhead” (which was apparently co-produced by Travi$ Scott) and “New Slaves” below. UPDATE: Lyrics, courtesy of Kanye.
Kanye West’s once-cryptic “June 18th” tweet was in fact the release date for his sixth studio album, Yeezus, as confirmed by Rap Up. This comes a day after he literally world-premiered “New Slaves” projected onto 66 buildings scattered throughout the world. As he will appear on tonight’s Saturday Night Live season finale, there is a chance where Kanye will perform “New Slaves” live. #YEEZYSEASON. SHAKE UPDATE: I’m not sure why some of y’all are even remotely shocked Kanye would title his album Yeezus. Y’all do remember this Rolling Stone cover I put up top right? That was 2006!
The NY Daily Times recently snapped a few photos of the filming of the highly-anticipated Anchorman sequel in NYC, and spotted amongst Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate on set is one rapper who already has his acting chops rooted, Drake. Looks like the once wheel-chair-bound actor will join the ranks of Kanye, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Harrison Ford, Sacha Baron Cohen, Liam Neeson, Nicole Kidman, Jim Carrey and the rest of the original cast.
Earlier tonight Kanye deleted his June Eighteenth Twitter update and replaced it with the one you see below. And as Yeezy Season begins, Kanye West is taking to 66 buildings across the globe (locations can be found here) to premiere his new song “New Slaves” against the sides of them. UPDATE: Clips of the entire song from all over are starting to surface. Hit the jump for the Brooklyn, Toronto (thanks to our very own Ghost of Shake) and Chicago premieres.
NEW SONG AND VISUAL FROM MY NEW ALBUM BEING PROJECTED TONIGHT ACROSS THE GLOBE ON 66 BUILDINGS, LOCATIONS @ KANYEWEST.COM
Last night, Mr. West took over the Adult Swim Upfront Party at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City and along with ranting about the paparazzi, Kanye debuted new material from his upcoming album — The auto-tune-filled “Awesome” (which he imagine is about Kim Kardashian). Shouts to Mis Info’s Mikey Fresh for the footage. More down below.
Black Entertainment Television have just announced the nominations for this year’s BET Awards ’13 and Drake leads the pack with 12 nominations. Drizzy’s nominated five times in the “Video of the Year” category for “Started From the Bottom,” “HYFR (Hell Ya Fuckin’ Right),” as well as his collabos for Kendrick Lamar’s “Poetic Justice,” 2 Chainz “No Lie,” and A$AP Rocky’s “Fuckin’ Problems.” Kendrick Lamar and 2 Chainz are both tied for eight nominations with A$AP Rocky snatching up five.
The BET Awards 2013 takes place at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles on June 30. Hit the jump for the complete list of nominees.
As we reported earlier last week, ‘Ye was enlisted for a cameo appearance in the Anchorman sequel alongside Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Harrison Ford, Sacha Baron Cohen, Liam Neeson, Nicole Kidman and the original cast from the first film. Now, thanks in part to numerous sources including Huff Post and KTT, we’re blessed with a few on-set images of ‘Ye in action.
