By now, it's common hip-hop knowledge that J.Cole moved the release of his sophomore album, Born Sinner, forward a week to June 18. We also know that this is the same day that Kanye West's highly-anticipated Yeezus will be released. While Cole tweeted that Kanye being "one of the greatest artists of our generation" is why he decided to go head-to-head with him, some were still puzzled by the decision.
You have to respect the fact that Cole's competitive fire motivated him to compete with 'Ye, but is it the best move? Speaking with Billboard, he explained that once the date for Yeezus was confirmed, he couldn't let Born Sinner drop in the aftermath of Hurricane Yeezus.
"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," he explained.
He's definitely confident in his new material, and he should be considering the warm reception to both "Power Trip" and Truly Yours 2. Regardless, June 18 is going to be a hell of a day for hip-hop.
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