The Making of J. Cole's "Cole World: The Sideline Story"

Learn about the creation of each song on the Roc Nation rapper's debut—straight from the key players.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

Interviews by Insanul Ahmed; Photography by Matt Salacuse; Styling by Matthew Henson; Additional Credits.

This feature is a part of Complex's J. Cole week.

Today, J. Cole’s debut album Cole World: The Sidelines Story finally hit stores. It’s been a long journey for the man born Jermaine Lamarr Cole, as chronicled in our online cover story and infographic timeline. He went from Fayetteville, North Carolina to signing with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and he’s arrived with a well-received debut that’s the perfect follow-up to his beloved mixtapes The Warm Up and Friday Night Lights.

Unburdened by too many guest verses, meddlesome producers, or outside influences, Cole World lives up to its title: This is Cole on his own terms as he mixes braggadocious raps and heartfelt story-telling. Is it a classic debut? Only time will tell.

For now, we reached out to the 26-year-old rapper/producer and he broke down exactly how his long-awaited debut came together, track by track. As if that wasn’t enough, we also caught up with Cole’s manager Mark Pitts and producers No I.D. and L&X Music, who told us what it’s like to work with one of the most exciting new rappers out. So click through and find out why he's not afraid to rap about crying, whether his story-telling raps are based on true stories, and how J.Cole finally made it off the sidelines and onto center court.

As told to Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin)

“Intro”

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: J. Cole

J. Cole: “The album was recorded in a lot of places because I move around so much. A lot of it was recorded in Quiet Studios in New York and Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta. Plus I did some at Roc the Mic Studios.

“[The vibe in the studio] is focused. If anything, there’s alcohol around. Earlier on, I had enough energy where I could drink and work. Now, I can’t because that shit gets me tired. I’ve got to be all the way pure in my thoughts and energy.


 

With Friday Night Lights, as classic as that is to me, if that was an album and you removed about four songs, then it’s officially a classic. If you remove some songs, you can play it front to back. - J. Cole

 

“In the studio, it’s straight to business. We might spend a whole studio session every now and then just talking because you need that. You just need to have conversations, laugh, and bullshit looking at YouTube videos. But for the most part, when we’re in the studio it’s album time. A lot of my studio sessions are spent working on beats.

“Mark [Pitts, my manager] told me [last-minute situations] always happen with albums. I don’t know if it’s because it’s my first time, but once you get to the end of the album, all the pieces start coming into place. Up until the [end of the summer] I’d just been making songs.

“[The album is] never real until you get that deadline. As you get closer to that deadline, that’s when things start becoming real. Things start to change. We’re always working up until those points, but you have more focus [as you approach the deadline]. It’s like the engine’s still moving, but the direction is really more clear. You go grab that last feature or you make that last song.

“Then, you’ve got to do the sequence. I had a bunch of songs that I played them at the listening session, which is great. But the sequencing was hard with all those songs. There were so many songs and they were all good.

“When I listen to Friday Night Lights and The Warm Up, I knew there was songs that I would maybe skip. I was like, ‘I’m just putting this one on here because of this.’ You’ve got that freedom because it’s a mixtape. On an album, the whole thing has to flow.


 

That was the one thing I realized, the difference between it being a good album or a classic, is the sequencing.

- J. Cole

 

“With Friday Night Lights, as classic as that is to me, if that was an album and you removed about four songs, then it’s officially a classic. If you remove some songs, you can play it front to back. That’s how important the sequencing is.

“So with this album, me, Jay-Z, and Mark Pitts sat and sequenced the album, I realized, ‘Yo, you’ve got your whole life to put out these songs. Make sure this album is the best, it flows the best.’ That’s one thing about this album—I’ve been playing it and I literally listen to this front to back.

“That was the one thing I realized, the difference between it being a good album or a classic is the sequencing. We sat down for two hours and went over the sequencing and got a perfect sequence for the album. I had to cut three songs because it just made better sense. It flowed better as an album.”

Mark Pitts (J. Cole’s Manager): “I started out with the Bad Boy. I started out early on with Puff Daddy. Biggie was the first artist that I managed. I signed Lil Kim to Atlantic. I signed Shyne. I’ve been blessed to be involved with a lot of great things. That’s how I started out but then I became the VP at Universal. I went through the phase where I did the Biggie movie, Notorious.


 

I just wasn’t passionate about hip-hop. I figured that was it for me. Then, I heard J. Cole and he just pulled me right back in. - Mark Pitts

 

“I’ve been with Usher from the beginning. The Confessions album, that’s when I was over there. I signed Chris Brown. I’ve done plenty more with the rest of my career, like bringing Nas and Jay-Z together. I felt very proud of that moment. Right now, I’m the president of Jive, which is now RCA.

“I didn’t like where hip-hop was going [in the mid-2000s]. I’m a lyrical guy, I like lyrics. My bar is high. I wasn’t passionate about the other movement that was going on. I respect it and God bless it and all that, but I personally disliked it.

“I was doing great, though. I was working with Usher, Chris Brown, I was having a lot of success. I just wasn’t passionate about hip-hop. I figured that was it for me.  I hadn’t really done the rap stuff in a while, I was kind of done with it. Then, I heard J. Cole and he just pulled me right back in.

“For some reason, when I pictured J. Cole, I pictured a short, brown-skinned dude. [Laughs.] When he started speaking, I was really impressed. I was like, ‘This kid knows who he is.’ My plan originally was making him a producer that could rhyme, but it felt like he was an MC that could produce. I loved his point of view. He actually made me want to get back into hip-hop. "

"Dollar & A Dream III"

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: The University

Co-producer: J. Cole

J. Cole: “I heard the beat and it sounded real epic. It gave me crazy emotion when I heard it, so I instantly thought, ‘Oh, shit. This is ‘Dollar & A Dream III!’’ I usually don’t work like that but I didn’t make the beat and I was so drawn to it, I just knew right away.

“There’s a few things in my career that define me and who I am. Like, the Simba concept is definitely one of those. ‘Lights Please’ is a defining moment and ‘Dollar & A Dream’ and ‘Dollar & A Dream II’ are defining songs.

‘Dollar & A Dream’ and ‘Dollar & A Dream II’ are totally different from each other, but they still embody the same feelings. The first mixtape ever, I had ‘Dollar & A Dream,’ the second mixtape, I had ‘Dollar & A Dream II,’ so it’s just important that I continue the ‘Dollar & A Dream’ story.”


 

I wrote the beginning of that first verse right there because it reminded me of Jay-Z’s ‘The Dynasty Intro.’ I got a couple references on there [to the ‘Dynasty Intro’], like the Stevie Wonder reference. It’s subtle shit that you may not first pick up on. - J. Cole

 

“I wrote the beginning of that first verse right there because it reminded me of Jay-Z’s ‘The Dynasty Intro.’ I got a couple references on there [to the ‘Dynasty Intro’], like the Stevie Wonder reference. It’s subtle shit that you may not first pick up on. But it had that ‘The Dynasty Intro’ feel, so I wrote to that first verse then.

“Then, I kind of left it alone. I didn’t come back and record it, I just had it. On the tour bus, while we were on the Rihanna tour, I just laid that verse, wrote the second one, changed the music around, and it just took shape.

“That night, I was just happy I had ‘Dollar & A Dream III,’ but as I started playing it for people, I realized, ‘Oh, shit. Wait a minute, this is the intro.’ I speak on so many current things that’s happening; I’m talking to my fans, I’m talking to my family, I’m speaking on a lot of shit, so I thought that was an appropriate intro.

“[The ‘nice guy with a mean flow’ thing has] been my thing for a long time because I think that’s most of us. We’re good people in our hearts, we just don’t always make the best decisions or we don’t always do shit we actually proud of.

“We know we’re good but we don’t mind doing something that most people consider bad on a regular basis. Nobody’s all the way bad, all the time. And nobody’s good all the time, never do anything bad that they’re ashamed of. That’s always been my thing. [That’s why my logo has] a set of horns and a halo. That’s all of us.

“Can’t Get Enough” f/ Trey Songz

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: Brian Kidd

J. Cole: “I got the beat from Brian Kidd in L.A. I laid a little reference down in the studio, then I wrote the rest of the song on the plane. When I landed in New York, I went to the crib, recorded the song in my bedroom. I knew I had something special.”

No I.D.: “I used to live in Atlanta and play basketball against this guy and we'd always get in these arguments. It turned out to be Polow Da Don. It was before Polow was the Polow that we know. One day an A&R over at Interscope said ‘I want you to meet this guy Polo and Brian Kidd.’ I went over and I was like, ‘Aw man, it's you!’ And he was like,’Oh, it's you.’


 

I went to the Drake concert at Radio City Music Hall. That night, I seen Trey Songz. That’s when the idea popped in my head like, ‘Yo, maybe I can have Trey do the hook.’ - J. Cole

 

“So Brian and Polo had been working and I heard a couple beats. Brian had worked with Timbaland before but nobody really knew him. So I was like, ‘Wait a minute, this guy is a little hidden gem in the corner.’ So I made my way to a friendship and relationship with him.

“I found that he was an incredibly talented guy that wasn't getting the exposure that he needed. So when I went to L.A. I called him and said, ‘You need to come out here. You need to get in this studio right next to me. We need to work. As things come our way I'm gong to pass them too you because I know you just need opportunity and you don't need a middle man trying to middle man the opportunity.’

“When Cole came through, I knew Cole always wanted to learn. I learned a lot from Brian myself. So I was like to Cole, ‘You should really go next door. If not a beat, you'll learn something from him.’ I wanted Cole to get in there because at that time, I felt he just needed to know some techniques. I'm big on giving the credit to people who discover the techniques, so certain things I was sharing with Cole, I was like, ‘Brian is the father of that, go next door.’


 

Once I realized we wasn’t going with that as the single. I needed some type of momentum. So, that’s when I said, ‘Fuck it,’ and I dropped Friday Night Lights. - J. Cole

 

“Brian just happened to have that beat and that just happened. An average situation like that, [I could have] tried to put Bryan under me and act like I did it. I'm like, ‘Nah, the guy is just getting his records, he needs to be out, and I helped.’”

J. Cole: “I went to the Drake concert at Radio City Music Hall. That night, I seen Trey Songz. That’s when the idea popped in my head like, ‘Yo, maybe I can have Trey do the hook.’ Trey made it happen soon after that. I just knew we had something special right then and there.

“I knew what that was as soon as I did it. So, I actually thought that was going to be the single. I wanted to go with it right then and there, but everybody wasn’t on the same page.

“Once I realized we wasn’t going with that as the single. I needed some type of momentum. So, that’s when I said, ‘Fuck it,’ and I dropped Friday Night Lights.”

Mark Pitts (J. Cole’s Manager): “My philosophy of sequencing is that the first three songs are going to determine whether or not you’re going to love the album or not. You’ve got to get the attention fast. I don’t believe in doing sequencing based on what the story with the records are.

“You’ve got to keep everybody’s attention—just like a roller coaster ride. There shouldn’t be no dull moment. If I felt like there were five slow songs back to back, we’ve got to break that up.


 

[With ‘Can’t Get Enough’], I think it was a natural thing. It was a part of the [path] for Cole to become better and in relation with Jay pushing him. I know what Jay wants and when he heard that one, that was it. That was a no-brainer. - Mark Pitts

 

“The first three records are ‘Dollar And A Dream III,’ ‘Can’t Get Enough,’ and ‘Lights Please.’ It just felt right [sequencing the first three tracks that way]. ‘Dollar And A Dream III,’ it gives you the energy of what you’re about to expect from the album. It gives you Cole talking and breaking shit down.

“‘Can’t Get Enough,’ is that joint that comes on that makes you want to get up and dance and move. You’ve got their attention, boom! Then, ‘Lights Please,’ it just fit melodically next to ‘Can’t Get Enough.’ It also gives you that feel of ‘this is how it all started.’

“[With ‘Can’t Get Enough’], I think it was a natural thing. It was a part of the [path] for Cole to become better and in relation with Jay pushing him. I know what Jay wants and when he heard that one, that was it. That was a no-brainer.

“[‘Work Out’] was supposed to be [the commercial record]. The thing about it is, it’s not the record that I would go with. It’s doing what it’s doing. Based on having the album coming so fast, he needed that automatic joint and I think that’s where ‘Can’t Get Enough’ comes into play.”

“Lights Please”

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: J. Cole

J. Cole: “That’s the first song my manager Mark Pitts heard from me. Kirk Lightburn had been trying to get him the song. He’d been trying to get him to listen to my music for six months and Mark wouldn’t listen because he’s a busy man. He wasn’t really trying to check for no rappers.

“One day in the office, Mark went to the bathroom. Kirk was like, ‘Fuck It.’ He just put the CD in while he was in the bathroom. Mark heard the song as he was walking back from the bathroom. He was about to leave the office but he heard the music and he said it was like, ‘I smelled food. I just had to go in.’ Like he had to go where the smell was coming from.


 

Mark Pitts was about to leave the office but he heard ‘Lights Please’ and he said it was like, ‘I smelled food. I just had to go in.’ Like he had to go where the smell was coming from. - J. Cole

 

Mark Pitts (J. Cole’s Manager): “You know how you got that guy that always brings you stuff? You don’t like the first three things, by the time he brings you the fourth thing, you stop paying attention Kirk Lightburn was telling me about J. Cole and I’m like, ‘Here we go again.’ He sent ‘Lights Please’ to me but I never listened.

“Kirk happened to be in my office one day. I’m in the bathroom and I hear ‘Lights Please’ come out of my office. I turned around, like, ‘What the hell is that?! Who’s that?!’ Kirk is like, ‘He’s the guy I’ve been telling you about!’ I said, ‘Make me a copy of that.’ I heard ‘Lights Please’ and I heard ‘Lost Ones’ and I loved this dude. It was a one-two punch for me. I wanted to meet him.

J. Cole: “He heard it and he had an incredible reaction so he called me. I was in his office the very next morning and the same shit happened with Jay-Z. He played my shit to Jay-Z and Jay had the same reaction as him. [The song] is why he wanted to meet me and the meeting got me a deal.


 

When history is told 10, 15 years from now, 20, 30, 40 years from now, it’s important that they know that song was a big part of my career. I wanted to do that song justice, it deserved more than [to be on a mixtape]. - J. Cole

 

Mark Pitts (J. Cole’s Manager): “It might have been in November 2008 [when I first heard ‘Lights Please’]. I called Jay and said, ‘I’ve got a Christmas present for you.’ I went to Jay’s house and said, ‘I’m going to play you one thing,’ and I played him ‘Lights Please.’ I remember his face when he heard ‘Lights Please.’

“He had the same expression I had from hearing it. He wanted to meet Cole. We had the meeting in the office and it was on. [I played Jay] ‘Lights Please,’ ‘Lost Ones,’ ‘Grown Simba,’ ‘Long Summer,’ ‘Night Rider,’ and a bunch of freestyles. He was in.

J. Cole: “When history is told 10, 15 years from now, 20, 30, 40 years from now, it’s important that they know that song was a big part of my career. I wanted to do that song justice, it deserved more than [to be on a mixtape]. It always deserved to be on the album—even when I put it on a mixtape, it was still an album song. I’m just giving it its proper due.

“It’s like that for the second album too. I got a lot of songs that didn’t go on this album that I been holding the same amount of time I’ve been holding ‘Lost Ones’ and ‘Lights Please.’ There’s a proper time for them. Maybe they need to be remade and adjusted, but they’re still too good to be wasted.


 

‘Lights Please’ was [there from] the beginning. You can’t not put that on the album. Cole is continuously growing so he was like, ‘That’s old!’ I was like, ‘No! Hell no!’ A lot of people don’t know that record and that’s also the beginning. You can’t not put that on there. - Mark Pitts

 

Mark Pitts (J. Cole’s Manager): “‘Lights Please’ was [there from] the beginning. You can’t not put that on the album. Cole is continuously growing so he was like, ‘That’s old!’ I was like, ‘No! Hell no!’ A lot of people don’t know that record and that’s also the beginning. You can’t not put that on there.

“A perfect example is with Chris Brown when he put the F.A.M.E. album out. ‘No Bullshit’ was on a mixtape and I was like, ‘There’s people who’ve never heard that. It’s one thing having it all on the mixtape, but when you put an album out, your reach is much further and people will be hearing it for the first time.’”

J. Cole: “I’ve got about 10 more songs from that era that I’ve been tweaking over the years and holding on to. I hold my songs in a higher light because there’s no guarantee you can do a song this good again, when you’re doing the caliber of music that I feel like I do.

“Not to sound crazy or cocky, but I could do a million bragging raps and flashy raps. Those never run out. When you’re dealing with life issues, concepts about relationships and family, and personal shit, those only come around but so often. They take a lot out of you. I feel like those aren’t the ones you should be throwing away.”

"Interlude"

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: J. Cole

J. Cole: “I was in Queens [when I got pulled over and spent the night in jail]. It was in Queens Central Booking. [I included the skit] because it was funny, but it still told a story about that. It’s just a nice break. It gives you insight to a funny part of the story.”

"The Sideline Story"

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: J. Cole

J. Cole: “The song is a metaphor for just being the kid on the bench, not being able to get in the game. He really wants to get in the game and he keeps waiting for the coach to call his name. I know what that is like.

“It’s like the kid who finally makes the team and he celebrates for a second, like, ‘Hell yeah! I made the team!’ only to realize real soon, it’s like, ‘Oh, shit. I’m on the team, but, man, it’s a whole other battle.’ He’s not satisfied with just being on the team. He’s like, ‘I don’t like not being in the game. I made the team but I still want to play.’


 

The song is a metaphor for just being the kid on the bench, not being able to get in the game. He really wants to get in the game and he keeps waiting for the coach to call his name. I know what that is like. - J. Cole

 

“It was like that when I got my deal. Yeah, I got the deal, but I knew that that shit wouldn’t last long because pretty soon, I was like, ‘Okay, now I’ve got to put out this album. I’ve got to do the right things to put out the album.’ Seeing everybody else putting out albums and having a certain type of success. It’s a metaphor for that.

“You’ve got to learn the system. Luckily, we’re in the day and age where we can build fan bases. You can take your career in your own hands and not just [depend on] the label. You can use that cosign from the label and build your fan base off of that. I’ve been building a fan base this whole time.

“Big Sean built a fanbase too. But I had never felt that feeling [of abandonment that he said he once had]. I know why [Big Sean] felt like that, I have a little insight to his situation. The fact that he put his album out is incredible.

He really overcame odds, from the label not understanding his project and not knowing what to do with it. I’m not trying to act like I know what happened, but I have a little insight, enough to know that his story is incredible, that he actually put that album out, which was successful.

“But I never felt abandoned. I just felt confused, like, ‘Man, what the fuck do I gotta do to get this album out?’ I was just rolling with the punches. I was just rolling with shit how it came. I didn’t really have a strategy.


 

Big Sean built a fanbase too. But I had never felt that feeling [of abandonment that he said he once had]. I just felt confused, like, ‘Man, what the fuck do I gotta do to get this album out?’ - J. Cole

 

“I just kept making songs like, ‘Oh, this doesn’t work? Fuck it. I’ll make this song. They don’t want to go with this single? Fuck it, man. I’m just going to put out a whole mixtape so I can keep my name relevant to the people.’ That’s what Friday Night Lights was. I handled shit week by week.

“The long-term goal I’d been working on was this album, period. All the other shit, I was just handling as it came. I felt like [I was ready to go] lots of times. But now, everybody is coming together. I learned now how to use the resources around me.

“I’d been so self-sufficient that [at first] I wanted to do everything on my own. But I neglected the fact that I’ve got this incredible team around me that really fucks with me. It’s actually more fun than it’s ever been because I’m communicating with my team more, getting their opinions.

“It took me bumping my head a few times to realize that, but now that I know. I’ll never stop using them in a good way. They’re there to be used. They’re there because they care about my shit and they want to see me win. If I win, they win, we all win. I genuinely enjoy them and vice-versa. That’s why it’s way more fun now.”

“Mr. Nice Watch” f/ Jay-Z

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: J. Cole

J. Cole: “That shit is retarded. It wasn’t meant to be a dubstep beat but once I added that sound on top, it definitely had a big hint of that. It wasn’t meant to be that way but I can’t deny [it does sound dubstep]. Fucking London and the UK is going to go crazy when they hear that record.

“I just started off with the beat. It started with one or two drum sounds, which led to the next drum sound, which led to another one, which led to the 808, which led to the synth, which led to me just rapping bullshit. I did a reference where I rapped the words. I had referenced the first verse, I didn’t even have the whole first verse finished but I had the hook.


 

I took it to Jay-Z and Mark Pitts like, ‘Yo, is this worth finishing?’ I knew I liked it but I didn’t know if I had the energy to put into it since we were so close to the album being finished. Jay-Z was like, ‘Yo, you’ve got to finish that.’ - J. Cole

 

“I had to add one more song [to the album] and I took it to Jay-Z and Mark Pitts like, ‘Yo, is this worth finishing?’ I knew I liked it but I didn’t know if I had the energy to put into it since we were so close to the album being finished. Jay-Z was like, ‘Yo, you’ve got to finish that.’ I went and finished it. I made [that song in the beginning of August]. This is one of the last two songs I did, all in the same week.

“[I had a Bone Thugs sample] on there [where I did the hook to ‘First of The Month’] but they couldn’t clear it. They’re really difficult to clear. I was a Bone Thugs fan in fifth grade and I still remember all their shit back then but it just comes in my head. I actually used that [Bone Thugs sampling] bridge on another song that I’m not using for the album. It just worked perfectly on that song so I just switched out.

“I got the first line on ‘Mr. Nice Watch’ from ‘Cost Me A Lot.’ You can look at it like a sequel to that song. I blatantly took that because of continuation, but I didn’t look at it like how I do ‘Dollar & A Dream II’ and ‘Dollar & A Dream III.’ I just took it because I wasn’t through with that idea yet.

“The song is about going beyond the surface. Yeah, I might wear a nice watch or a nice chain, but you can go deeper than that and find the reasons why I wear it, the reason why this guy might wear it, or the reason why we—as the people—wear the shit.

“On ‘Mr. Nice Watch,’ I start off with a super-stunting line, ‘It cost me a lot, my chain and my watch.’ But the rest of the hook is almost spitting knowledge, ‘They say time is money, but really it’s not/If we ever go broke, then time is all we got.’


 

We went to mastering on a Monday and right before the last song was done mastering, [the mastering engineer] got a call like, ‘Jay-Z said, ‘Stop the mastering process!’’ I knew right there, ‘Oh, he’s trying to get his verse done.’ - J. Cole

 

“It’s trying to say that when people say ‘time is money’ it’s not true. Money is nothing compared to time because we can be dead broke and we still have the rest of our lives, but you can have money and the shit can be gone tomorrow. It’s like stunting with intelligence.

“I made ‘Mr. Nice Watch’ in the final hour. Even when I made it, I told myself, ‘Watch, when Jay get on something, its gonna be this.’ I’ve had that feeling because it sounds like it’s a bigger record; it sounds new and it doesn’t sound like shit that’s out. Sure enough, final 10 seconds left on the game clock, Jay hopped on ‘Mr. Nice Watch.’ It was such a moment. His verse was crazy.

“I knew he was going to get on it because he pushed back the mastering process. We went to mastering on a Monday and right before the last song was done mastering, [the mastering engineer] got a call like, ‘Jay-Z said, ‘Stop the mastering process!’’ He extended it a week. I knew right there, ‘Oh, he’s trying to get his verse done.’ He just needed more time.

“At that time, I knew he was going to get on ‘Mr. Nice Watch.’ Me, him, and Mark Pitts had already sat and sequenced the album so I already knew he loved ‘Mr. Nice Watch.’ Right when we left that meeting, I knew that was the one he loved. I had given him the instrumental and all that.”

Mark Pitts (J. Cole’s Manager): “My favorite record [on the album is] ‘Mr. Nice Watch.’ It’s ridiculous. I’m proud of him. It’s ridiculous in what he’s spitting and his confidence. It’s just right. He’s very fitting on the record and his confidence on it is dope to me. The track is hot. He’s growing as a producer.”

"Cole World"

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: J. Cole

J. Cole: “‘Cole World,’ something I made at my house. A lot of my best songs, I start with something that I feel like I’m about to just throw out. I’ll be like, ‘Man, I want to make a song that I’ma throw out to the world today.’ ‘Cole World’ is like that, ‘God’s Gift’ too. A lot of people are going to be surprised that that’s my beat. Every time I play that for somebody, it’s the same reaction, ‘What the fuck?!’ It’s one of those.

“I felt incredible that day. That whole day was fun. I was in the crib by myself for six hours just making a beat, dancing to the beat, rapping to the beat, recording, walking around the house making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the TV on. I just had fun that day and I think it’s reflected in that song. You can tell. [The lyrics had to do with] nothing, it was stunt-tastic rap.”

“In the Morning” f/ Drake

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: L&X Music

J. Cole: “[I made the song] in my room in my crib in Queens where I stayed at for my last year of college all the way up until I got the deal. That song was made before I even got a record deal. This is after I met Mark Pitts but before I met Jay-Z.

“Everybody had been saying, ‘Man, you need to try some new beats. Try to get on other people’s beats. Don’t limit yourself.’ So, that was the first time I did that. I forced myself to write to it.”

Xavier “X” Smith (of L&X Music): “We got involved with J. Cole before he was actually J. Cole. He went to St. John’s and we met through a mutual friend. She was like, ‘My friend does music too. Y’all should meet up.’


 

Cole had a North Carolina accent and swag, but he represented New York as well. At one point, he wasn’t using any music from other producers. He solely did his own music, but he started opening up. - Xavier “X” Smith

 

“We met up and it was cool vibes. He had a North Carolina accent and swag, but he represented New York as well. At one point, he wasn’t using any music from other producers. He solely did his own music, but he started opening up.

“We showed him music and he showed us that he rapped and did beats. We left him with a CD and the ‘In the Morning’ beat was on there. He was in the studio in Manhattan and he went through like 20 tracks in the studio one day and ended up stopping on ‘In The Morning.’ He had forgotten that we did that beat.

“We got a call from him saying, ‘Yo, I think this is your beat. I’m not sure.’ He played it over the phone, and I heard it and said, ‘Yup, that’s definitely our joint.’ At that time, I think he had the hook and one verse. He kept recording to it, finished it up, and sent it to us later that week. This was back in ‘07."

J. Cole: “I still remember riding to the club after I did it and just playing that shit and my homeboy, Ted from Queens. He kept commenting on it.


 

Two years later I got a message from Drake like, ‘Yo, man. I just heard ‘In the Morning.’ That shit is retarded.’ I told him I was thinking about redoing it and he said, ‘If you ever redo it, save me a spot.’ - J. Cole

 

“You can count on Ted’s tastes because he’s not jaded by the industry shit. He’s just a real fan. He listens to the radio all the time, so you can trust his judgement. It’s not biased. When he heard it, he was like, ‘This shit is hard.’ He really meant it.

“I met Drake in L.A. through Chase N. Cashe. That was during the No I.D. sessions, my first time working on the album, like two years ago. But it takes time [to build that relationship]. It ain’t right away. It takes time and now, I can honestly say that he’s my friend.

“Two years later I got a message from Drake like, ‘Yo, man. I just heard ‘In the Morning.’ That shit is retarded.’ I told him I was thinking about redoing it and he said, ‘If you ever redo it, save me a spot.’ Fast forward to Friday Night Lights, I saved him a spot, and he did it.”

Xavier “X” Smith (of L&X Music): “We were a part of that process [of Drake getting on the song]. J. Cole reached out to us [after Drake said he wanted to do it] and asked if we still had the files. I said ‘We sure do.’ I went and got the files, I met J. Cole in the studio that night and we laid it down.”


 

The new production is solely on Drake’s part. When Drake’s part comes in, you hear the little guitar, piano, and the telephone effect on the drums. - Leslie “L” Merceron

 

Leslie “L” Merceron (of L&X Music): “[We remastered it] because the old version was a two-track recording. It wasn’t really tracked out. So when we brought it back to the studio, everything was separated, as far as the piano, the bass, and the drums. We made it what it is.”

Xavier “X” Smith (of L&X Music): “Cole brought the live instrumentation in, and we produced over that as well. We added keys and live bass.”

Leslie “L” Merceron (of L&X Music): “The new production is solely on Drake’s part. When Drake’s part comes in, you hear the little guitar, piano, and the telephone effect on the drums. That part was all new production of the beat.”

J. Cole: “If I do a show anywhere in the United States, as soon as ‘In the Morning’ comes on, it gets the biggest reaction. The label and my management were like, ‘Yo, you’re retarded if you do not put that on the album.’ It’s got more life to it. You have an entire audience that tells you that is the song that moves them, so why not give it to the rest of the world? Same logic as ‘Lights Please.’ How could you deny the rest of the world that song?”

"Lost Ones"

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: J. Cole

J. Cole: “I’ve been waiting for so long to drop that to the world. I wrote that song in 2007. I held on to it for that long—that’s how special it was to me. We have a video for that that we shot three years ago that I’m going to release. That’s one of the most important songs to me because I’m so proud of it like, ‘Damn, I really did that.’

“[The second verse] is just a clear example of how I write as an artist. That’s a clear example of what I do. When I’m at my best, I try to put myself in the person’s shoes, whoever they are. So, I consciously was like, ‘Yo, how would a female feel?’ I wrote the verse from that perspective, feeling like her, talking from her perspective.


 

[The situation described in the song] didn’t happen to me. But the funny thing is, after I did that song, not that the exact same situation happened to me, but my first ever time some shit like that came close to happening to me. - J. Cole

 

“It’s just dope because it’s talking about a topic that we can all relate to in some kind of way. If you ain’t been through it, you’ve got a friend who’s been through it. I tells the story from both sides. It ain’t just from a male perspective, it’s also from a female perspective. And it’s a third-person perspective that sees both sides. I love that fucking song.

“[The situation described in the song] didn’t happen to me. But the funny thing is, after I did that song, not that the exact same situation happened to me, but my first ever time some shit like that came close to happening to me. But nah, that’s not about me.

“I hate questions [about if the song happened to me] and I’ll probably stop answering them because who cares? The song is what it is. I know people want to know, like, ‘Ah, man. Did that happen to you?’ To me, it’s kind of wack to give it away every time. ‘Oh, yeah. That one’s about me, but this one ain’t.’ The song is what it is. It should affect you how it affects them—whether it was mine or not.

“If Steven Spielberg writes the most incredible movie ever or directs the most incredible movie ever, do you really give a fuck if that happened to him or not? Or are you just so entrenched by the story?


 

People want to know, like, ‘Ah, man. Did that happen to you?’ To me, it’s kind of wack to give it away every time. The song is what it is. It should affect you how it affects them—whether it was mine or not. - J. Cole

 

“First of all, some of this shit be really personal shit people be asking about. Rapping about it should be enough. That’s hard enough to rap about some shit and put it out. When questions start getting personal, I start to feel a certain kind of way.

“Second of all, it affects the way you listen to the song. Now you think about me rather than everything about you. Maybe I’m over-thinking it. That’s just how I feel sometimes. I know I’m going to get a million questions about ‘Breakdown’ that I’m not ready to answer. ‘Lost Ones’ is cool because it actually didn’t happen to me.”

Mark Pitts (J. Cole’s Manager): “I feel like if I was a rapper, I’d have the same point of view as J. Cole. I loved how he was flowing on ‘Lost Ones,’ talking about abortion. He made it seem effortless and it didn’t sound preachy. It was real shit. I felt like that type of shit is how I’d want to talk about it.”

“Nobody’s Perfect” f/ Missy Elliott

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: J. Cole

J. Cole: “I made that beat in the studio. These songs are coming from me last minute, realizing what the album is missing. I realized that the album was missing some cool, rider shit. Shit you just ride to and not really over-think.

“I had the first six lines of those raps. I wrote them in the car on the way to the studio and they went perfectly with the beat I had just made. I make a beat and the words matched the beat. That’s rare, when the words are there first.


 

Missy Elliott did a version [of the hook] which was great. But I just wanted her to be just a little more calm on the first half of the hook. I didn’t know if I could really tell her. I was debating, ‘Should I ask her to redo it? Is that rude? She’s such a legend.’ Luckily, I sent her a text and she was so cool about it. - J. Cole

 

“I try to let if flow out, that’s it. Let the melody flow out, let the words flow out. Like on ‘Nobody’s Perfect,’ that shit just flowed out. First, it was the melody that flowed out, then the words just came. I didn’t even think about it. That’s why the hook is so good. I didn’t even think about that.

“There’s a good balance [on the album] of my current sound or my progression and where I was a couple years ago. I also evolved because I added things, I added production, I re-recorded vocals. ‘Lost Ones’ is rerecorded. ‘Breakdown’ is the same exact vocals from when I first laid them. ‘Lights Please’ was re-recorded recently. After I got the deal, I rerecorded it. I added strings.

“After I made that song, I was like, ‘We should put Missy on it,’ because t sounded like Aaliyah. It sounded like an Aaliyah song with Timbaland-style drum patterns. So, I was like, ‘Oh, shit. What better way to bring that to life? And with Missy, who I love.’ [I got in contact with Missy through] management.

“Missy Elliott did a version [of the hook] which was great. But I just wanted her to be just a little more calm on the first half of the hook. I didn’t know if I could really tell her. I was debating, ‘Should I ask her to redo it? Is that rude? She’s such a legend.’ Luckily, I sent her a text and she was so cool about it. She was like, ‘Yo, I’m driving away from the studio right now, but if that’s exactly what you want me to do, I’ll turn around right now and go do it.’ She was so with it and so cool about it.


 

[Missy hasn’t put out material in years] and that’s what makes it so great. What’s even better, though, is she’s back to work but I’m not sure exactly what she’s doing. If so, what better way to come back in the game? - J. Cole

 

“[Missy hasn’t put out material in years] and that’s what makes it so great. What’s even better, though, is she’s back to work but I’m not sure exactly what she’s doing. If so, what better way to come back in the game? I just feel honored she got on the song with me.”

Mark Pitts (J. Cole’s Manager): “It was very last minute. We were mastering on a Friday and we were in 9-1-1 mode. He mentioned Missy Elliott and I reached out to her manager, Mona Scott, and we got it done that weekend.

“I knew from Violator [Management], we came in the game together. We’re all come from that same generation: Me, her, Chris Lightly, all of us came up [at the same time]. [Getting Missy on the song] was a favor.

“That’s the beauty of Cole: He knows, creatively, what’s best for the record and how it sounds. With Missy, it just fit.

“Never Told”

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: No I.D.

J. Cole: “That came from one of the first sessions I had with No I.D., which was like a week long in L.A. No I.D. was the first dude I got in the studio with. That was almost two years ago. It’s one of the best times I had in the studio. We got so many good songs done and great ideas done.

“The best thing about those sessions were we would start those sessions out with talks. We was doing music, but we was also having great talks, just me, No I.D., and whoever was in the studio. He gave me a lot of advice. He still gives me advice.”


 

Getting in with No I.D., I started to say, ‘We don’t follow no rules, Kanye don’t follow no rules, and these guys don’t follow no rules, so why am I following the rules?’ That’s when I started to break out that box I had myself in. - J. Cole

 

No I.D.: “Anyone that works with me knows I like to joust, talk, and spark different energy. It wasn't like ‘I'm in here, I'm trying to get on the album, we need a hit right now.’ It was really just natural, coming in working, learning, sharing, and trying stuff. I bet if you asked him he would say it was some of the funnest sessions he's had working with another producer because it was really just cool, carefree.”

J. Cole: “The best advice he gave me broke me out of my box. Talking with him, I started to break out of this box that I had. You have all these fake rules that don’t exist when you’re a young rapper and thinking you’re pure and when you’re a young producer and thinking you’re super pure, you got these rules set in place.

“Getting in with him, I started to say, ‘We don’t follow no rules, Kanye don’t follow no rules, and these guys don’t follow no rules, so why am I following the rules?’ That’s when I started to break out that box I had myself in. I started to experiment a little more.

“[My rules were] nothing serious. It was just small things. It’s not a rule, it’s a fake rule. Like if somebody samples something, you don’t want to go touch that sample. Any limitation you place on yourself is a rule, basically. I didn’t write them out, but it was things that keep you in a box.”


 

There is no reason to have boxes and limitations as long as you are pursuing creative excellence. So I would give that to Kanye West, I learned that from watching him. - No I.D.

 

No I.D.:“The person I learned that from was Kanye West. I know that he he always gives me so many compliments about what I taught him, but I think most of our growth came from us learning from each other and not necessarily each one trying to teach each other. We were just being strong enough to learn from what we see.

“He took certain things that I knew how to do and eliminated all rules that I learned from being an underground hip-hop guy. There are so many rules that we put on ourselves—I saw him break the rules and I saw that was all in pursuit of still being creative. And that's when I said ‘Aww, I get it.’ There is no reason to have boxes and limitations as long as you are pursuing creative excellence. So I would give that to Kanye, I learned that from watching him.”

J. Cole: “‘Never Told’ came after we had already made a bunch of songs that week and we already had a bunch of talks. It was specifically after we was having some relationship discussions. That’s why I love ‘Never Told,’ it really sums up that moment, out of all the things that we were talking about, in musical form.”

No I.D.: “A lot of people don't understand a lot of that is more life than music. It translates into it being music but, music needs to get more personal.

“You have people that work with an artist but they don't even know the artist. They send music, they don't know each other. They don't even have a real chemistry that allows the music to be other than ‘Hey I sent you some music. It was good. I did a song.’


 

With Cole being a producer, most producer/artists only want to buy a record they feel they couldn't do. I knew that this record was something he wouldn't even think of trying to do, much less aim to do. - No I.D.

 

“I'm really big on not working like that. I really like to develop a relationship with who I work with and make a decision whether I want to work with them.”

J. Cole: “The music on that is incredible. A beat like that can’t even be remade because we were all in the moment when it was made. While they were making the beat, I was writing the raps. It was special. The way music should be made is how that song came about.”

No I.D.: “I knew ‘Never Told’ was the song that was going to stick. With him being a producer, most producer/artists only want to buy a record they feel they couldn't do. And I think with him [having the same] style of production that I have, it was like maybe I made other good records, but maybe he had stuff like that already.

“I knew that this record was something he wouldn't even think of trying to do, much less aim to do. I knew it was just a really good song. I knew out of all the records that was the one that would really outlast everything because it was a special record to me. And when you hear it I think it just does not sound like the average song that I have produced.”

J. Cole: “When I about 17, I got a box set of [Richard Pryor’s stand-up routines]. I was already into stand-up comedy, like Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence. I had seen Richard Pryor’s stuff, but not really. I just started riding around listening to it. I would ride around Fayetteville listening to his stand up and dying laughing.


 

Cole and No I.D. made a lot of good records but it also stepped Cole up as a producer. Working with No I.D. took his production to another level. - Mark Pitts

 

“So, after we had made that song, that same night, I started skimming through some old Richard Pryor shit because I felt like he had something that summed up the mood of that song. He always talked about real shit. So, that’s where I ended up getting that sample from, but they couldn’t clear the sample, so we didn’t use it on the album. I will put out a version online with the Richard Pryor sample.”

Mark Pitts (J. Cole’s Manager): “Cole and No I.D. made a lot of good records but it also stepped Cole up as a producer. All the songs he brought to me when I first listened to him he produced. Working with No I.D. took his production to another level. He’s definitely has grown as a producer.

“[When J. Cole was working with] No I.D. in L.A., I would go by there and go to hear the songs he was cooking up. Cole, he’s on his own schedule. He does his thing. He’s one of the artists where you don’t need to be on his back.

“There would be days where I might not hear but two or three joints because he was rocking and I was busy. Most of the time, he’d be excited about something or had a rough idea, he’d send me the track, the hook, or a verse from it just to get the idea and see where I was at with it.”

"Rise & Shine"

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: J. Cole

J. Cole: “‘Rise & Shine’ is super-hard. J. Cole fans are going to love it because it’s aggressive and the beat is retarded. People always talk about the beat first and foremost. There’s no crazy story [about ‘Rise & Shine’], I just made it in the studio.


 

[I put the Jay-Z dialogue from Backstage in the song because] it’s uplifting. It’s a powerful quote. The scene’s too perfect. - J. Cole

 

“I started with the beat first. From the beat, I started humming the hook and then added female vocals on hook. I hummed the melody first and I had some singers come through that night and sing that. I added a lot of strings on that. I even added some horns underneath.

“Over time, over months, that track took a long time, in terms of perfecting it. It’s such a big production. Drums, samples, strings, horns, female vocals, long-ass third verse, live bass that comes in on the third verse, there’s a lot to it.

“[I put the Jay-Z dialogue from Backstage in the song because] it’s uplifting. It’s a powerful quote. The scene’s too perfect. I saw it when I was younger but Elite is the one that found it.”

"God’s Gift"

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: J. Cole

J. Cole: “I made that one day in the crib. I was like, ‘I’m just going to throw some shit out today,’ because it was that time. I just felt like I needed to throw something out to the fans. The fans needed to hear something, so I made that song.


 

That was the one I originally was like, ‘Yo, Jay-Z would be crazy on this right here.’ I’m not mad [that Jay-Z jumped on ‘Mr. Nice Watch’ instead of ‘God’s Gift’]. I think it worked out better. - J. Cole

 

“Once I made that song, I was like, ‘Oh, shit! You can’t throw this out. This is special.' So, I didn’t throw it out, obviously. I realized that, ‘Not only is it special, this might be the one for Jay.’ That was the one I originally was like, ‘Yo, Jay-Z would be crazy on this right here.’

“I’m not mad [that Jay-Z jumped on ‘Mr. Nice Watch’ instead of ‘God’s Gift’]. I think it worked out better. When I made ‘God’s Gift,’ I didn’t have ‘Mr. Nice Watch.’ ‘God’s Gift’ is a great song, classic, the beat is incredible.

“I feel like it’s a bigger moment. It feels more special to have him on ‘Mr. Nice Watch.’ It’d have been great, don’t get me wrong, but ‘Mr. Nice Watch’ is something else.”

"Breakdown"

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: J. Cole

J. Cole: “[The storytelling in my rhymes are] who I am as an artist. I have way more stories that didn’t make the album. I’ve got to blend like that. The first song I ever recorded was a story. It was called ‘The Storm.’

“What I’m saying on that record is exactly how I was feeling at the time. I made that three or four years ago, way before I even had a deal. I wrote the first verse before I even had a beat for it. It was all around the same time.


 

[The story about my father] is a completely true story. I was never scared to talk about myself crying. What you hear in that song is probably the very first time I had ever cried [as a man]. - J. Cole

 

“[The story about my father] is a completely true story. I was never scared to talk about myself crying. I talk about that a lot in my career on my old mixtapes—not that I’m a fuckin’ crybaby because I’m not. I just talk about the standard that it is with men, especially with black men—crying is a no-no. That shit is unheard of.

“What you hear in that song is probably the very first time I had ever cried [as a man]. I like to talk about it because it explores the standard that men got, this unspoken rule about crying. We definitely have those type of rules about how men ain’t supposed to cry.

“My father was cool. We’ve always been cool. There’s people out there with way worse relationships than me with my father, so I’m blessed to even know my father. He’s still alive. The truth is, I didn’t grow up with him. I talk to him at least every few months which is great. This is actually incredible because of the fathers in the world.


 

No way do I want people to think that me and my father have a bad relationship. A lot of people have worse father situations, but guess what? That song is for all of them, too. - J. Cole

 

“As I got older, I started to realize, like, ‘Wait a minute, I don’t know this guy all the way. I know him but we never really bonded. He don’t know what I like, he can’t give me real advice because he don’t really know me.’ That’s where that was coming from.

“No way do I want people to think that me and my father have a bad relationship. A lot of people have worse father situations, but guess what? That song is for all of them, too. There’s going to be somebody out there that don’t know their father and that have a more distant relationship than me with their father, they’re going to grab it and they’re going to appreciate that song so much.

“[In the second verse], I’m talking about my mom. The third verse is about a girl. That’s not anybody I’m related to, but that’s a real story, too. Everything is either based exactly on my life or, like in the third verse, it was really somebody I know. Everything in that song is true."

"Work Out"

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: J. Cole

J. Cole: “That came from when I was in a hotel room while on tour. This was before we started on the Rihanna tour. I think there was a ton of college tours. I was listening to Kanye West’s The College Dropout in the hotel room, I just had it playing.

“‘The New Workout Plan’ comes on. I usually skip that song. It’s one of the songs that I skip and I don’t skip much. For some reason, on that day, I let it go all the way. When it got to the end, I guess my ears were just trained differently that day because I heard it differently.


 

I was listening to Kanye West’s The College Dropout in the hotel room. ‘The New Workout Plan’ comes on. I usually skip that song. For some reason, on that day, I let it go all the way. When it got to the end, I guess my ears were just trained differently that day because I heard it differently.- J. Cole

 

“I heard the part where he was, like, ‘Work out for me,’ and I heard all the other shit. Then, I just got super excited. My eyes lit up, like, ‘Oh, shit!’ I ran right to the sampler, chopped the sample in the hotel room, and kind of made the beat. It was a slower beat at the time. Over the next few days, I kept fucking with it.

“I had the melody for the hook in the hotel room, so I probably had the song recorded in about four days and it just felt really good. Everything is competition for me and I look at production the same way. I love it, but I also love getting better and seeing my growth.

“I’m on Logic and I use Virus. I started out on the ASR when I was 15. Then, I moved to Reason when I turned 20 and I got Logic a year and a half ago. A lot of Friday Night Lights was done on Logic. Reason was The Warm Up.

“Right now, people don’t really know [me as a producer]. All the time, I realize I’ve got to do something successful first. I know I’m as good as a lot of people. I know I’ve made some hot beats. But I understand why the people don’t really care yet. The album will change [the way I’m looked at as a producer]. Also, me doing production for other people will change that.

“At that time when I made that song, I needed a single real bad. I was tired of sitting around, I needed movement, I needed motion. Between that one and another one I had did in the same week, I went to Jay like, ‘Yo, let’s go.’ It was between those. I wanted to go with this one because I felt more connected to the record.”

"Who Dat"

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: J. Cole, Elite

J. Cole: “That was made around the time when I was really buzzing online. All I had out was The Warm Up and that was out maybe seven months before that. The time was coming up for the S.O.B.’s show in New York.

“We had a great buzz and I think the label was looking for a single that they could release. ‘Who Dat’ was the first song that I did that had super high energy and sounded like something that they could potentially use. So I performed it at S.O.B.’s and they went nuts.

“I made that in Quad Studios in New York City. Me and Elite made the beat. I started with these drums and put the sample over the drums. It was just natural how it came together. [It’s a bonus track because it] connects the past two years to everything [.”


 

At one point, the delay [of his album happened] when we were trying to stay true to what he does. Understand, a lot of the times, the label may have a vision of what they want. They want to get more commercial songs and Cole wasn’t making those. Then, I felt like he started saying he had to make [commercial] type of records. - Mark Pitts

 

Mark Pitts (J. Cole’s Manager): “At one point, [of his album happened] when we were trying to stay true to what he does. Understand, a lot of the times, the label may have a vision of what they want. They want to get more commercial songs and Cole wasn’t making those. He was making those emotional records. Then, I felt like he started saying he had to make [commercial] type of records.

“He started trying to make [commercial] records. It works sometimes but sometimes it doesn’t work. It could also throw you off and then you go back to the drawing board like, ‘Where am I going wrong?’ They you go back to the original format like, ‘That’s the formula that’s been working for me.’

“[With ‘Who Dat’], that was the beginning of it. To me, it was always not necessarily what the charts say. Sometimes, it’s what it does for your path. It didn’t have a lot of radio success, but it continued to form the path.

“As an artist, I definitely have seen the change in him. He definitely has grown. He’s definitely understanding. He can look himself in the mirror and if he messed up or bumped his head, he’s not pointing fingers. He knows when he’s bumped his head. He takes responsibility for things. I can see he’s always been that way for as long as I’ve know him.”

"Daddy’s Little Girl"

Not Available Interstitial

Producer: J. Cole

J. Cole: “That’s a song that I’m torn about because it’s good enough to be on the album. I want it out to the world, which is why I put it as a bonus. But it’s also good enough to save for the second album.


 

The song is exploring the relationships between bad girls and their fathers. The girls we consider hoes, like the strippers, or the girls you just look at like, ‘Damn, she’s lost,’ but we still love them because they sexy. - J. Cole

 

“I made that in L.A. in the spring. When I was in L.A., I had a nice little vibe and I was doing a string of songs. I made a song called ‘Neverland,’ I made ‘Disgusting,’ and I made ‘Daddy’s Little Girl’ in that stretch. ‘Daddy’s Little Girl’ was my favorite. We actually got a little video shot for it.

“The song is exploring the relationships between bad girls and their fathers. The girls we consider hoes, like the strippers, or the girls you just look at like, ‘Damn, she’s lost,’ but we still love them because they sexy. It’s just exploring their relationships.

“I didn’t want to take ‘Cheer Up’ off the album out but the sequence that we had is so great. Jay made a point that if I can get somebody on the hook to make it as big as it’s supposed to be—because it’s supposed to be really big record.

“The argument is even though I’m talking about specific things on that song, you have ‘Breakdown,’ ‘Lost Ones,’ and even ‘The Sideline Story’ which are all emotional records. So I’m going to save ‘Cheer Up’ for the second album.”

Latest in Music