J. Cole to release Roc Nation debut

By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

Ever since he signed with Roc Nation, the hip hop media has been pitting J. Cole against Drake. When Jay-Z launched his new company, he chose J. Cole as the first artist. This puts all kinds of pressure on new artists, as J. Cole. But, he promised to live up to the pressure.

In 2009, J. Cole was supposed to make the jump from being a mixtape rapper to being the face of Roc Nation. However, his debut was pushed back for Jay-Z's comeback album, The Blueprint 3. J. Cole was rescheduled for 2010 and prepared his album with the "Who Dat?" single.

Before the end of 2010, J. Cole had seemingly been pushed to the backburner for Willow Smith. She built incredible buzz with her "Whip My Hair" single. Jay-Z announced she would definitely be releasing her album before the end of 2011. However, he said J. Cole's album would still be coming first.

Over the past few months, J. Cole has been talking about his new music. Jay-Z has expressed interest in working with Cole on his debut album. While open to working with Jay-Z, J. Cole said he has to step his lyrical game up. Right now, J. Cole does not feel as if he is good enough to have Jay-Z perform on one of his tracks. This comes after his verse on Jay-Z's "A Star is Born." J. Cole is working as hard as he can and he intends to release his debut album sometime this year.