J. Cole shocked everyone yesterday when he revealed that he’d be moving his album release date for Born Sinner up one week…thus putting him in direct competition with Kanye West. Talking to Billboard, he revealed his reasoning behind it. Find out why below.
“Instantly the lightbulb [turned on]… it got real,” he said of finding out Kanye’s release date for Yeezus. 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.”
Source: Billboard