J. Cole is in a pretty good place right now. He narrowed the first week sales of Born Sinner and Yeezus to a very close 30,000 copies, and had his idol repsond to him directly on record. The achievements may be getting to him however, as he's now planning to charge fans for two projects that have been available free on the internet for over 2 years.
The Warm Up and Friday Night Lights are fairly beloved projects from the rapper, known for being crafted similarly to studio albums. In an interview with 97.9 The Box, Cole expressed regret for the projects never getting a proper release. "The classics that I had, I didn’t get a chance to like, have those be commercially sold…that was the only part that was missing,” he said. “So that’s my goal. Now that this album is doing well, my next plan is to release those commercially."
The Roc Nation rapper explained that the reissue wasn't about sales, but just allowing the projects to be recognized in the way his studio albums had. “I don’t care if they sell a thousand copies. It’s just to get them the proper [recognition] that they deserve.”
"My first album was really like my third album,” the NC emcee said of the tapes.
Cole did not comment on how he will get around some of the tracks using pre-existing instrumentals.
[via]