Fresh off unveiling the tracklist for his upcoming new albumFrom a Birds Eye View, Cordae paid a visit to The Tonight Show for a memorable medley performance and an interview with host Jimmy Fallon.
For the performance, which you can catch via the video up top, the Grammy-nominated Hi-Level founder brought the recently released track “Sinister” to the stage as part of a medley that also featured the new song “Chronicles.” Both tracks will appear on Cordae’s new album.
When speaking with Fallon on Monday night’s show, Cordae was asked about his earlier years as a developing artist. “I dropped my first mixtape when I was 15 years old,” Cordae recalled around the 46-second mark in the video below. “I used to always perform at, like, the school talent shows. I was a rapper [but] it’s not cool being an artist before you’re on Jimmy Fallon’s couch, you know?”
Asked to name some artists he idolized back then, Cordae pointed to a variety of familiar names. “You know, Kanye West was a big idol of mine,” he said. “Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Jay-Z. You might have heard of ‘em.”
Later, around three minutes in, Cordae detailed how he’s feeling about the impending release of A Birds Eye View, noting that he’s now at the point of accepting that “true faith” is equal to having “no fear in the unknown.” He also broke down the inspiration behind the album’s title.
“It means to see things from outside of yourself,” Cordae said. “As human beings, we tend to all have, like, main character syndrome. It’s to see things from a more zoomed-out lens. That’s, like, me and you can get in an argument on TV—hopefully not, right?—but we can get in an argument here and I can leave here like, ‘Oh man, you know, Jimmy, he’s kinda, like, not a nice guy.’ But to see things from a bird’s eye view is like, ‘Oh, I can understand how I was wrong in this way.’ So to see things from a wider lens and more broader perspective.”
From a Birds Eye View is out Jan. 14. Below, see the newly unveiled tracklist, as well as a rundown of contributors.
For added Birds Eye-promoting fun, Cordae also shared a pic with fellow Tonight Show guest John Cena, complete with a joke-focused caption:
