J.Cole On Competing With Kanye West
May 21, 2013 @ 5:42 PM EDT
News
With J.Cole’s album now arriving on June 18th, he’ll be going head to head with Kanye West. In an interview with The Juice, he discusses moving his album date up.
“Instantly the lightbulb [turned on]… it got real. 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.”
LOL
Calling it now! Kanye will sell 425k his first week, J. Cole will sell 190k.
The light bulb was sh*t if Kanye dropping on the 18th and I drop my album the same day the Kanye stans are liable to pick mine up too! We all know the Cole fans gonna cope Jermaine’s album whatever day he chose. SMART MAN!
lol lets hope that confidence pays off for ya buddy…i mean it is possible…chuuch…
good move, for him and us
Kanye will sell more. but j cole deserves the hiphop crown right now. Cole World
J Cole is dope, but no way is he out selling Kanye!!!
well, he won’t outsell Kanye. BUT, props to him for not backing down or pushing back his album release. dude is real. anyway, both of them are bringing some heat and i bet that all of them will get a nice first week sales.
Love his confidence albeit ill advised lol.
This is gonna be good for hip hop. Ye will have a #1 album, and cole will be number 2
I expect the number to be something like 450k fw for Kanye and 275k for Cole
he’s not trying to outsell kanye or anything you guys gotta relax. he’s just making sure he doesn’t get overshadowed by dropping a week later. he’ll get his numbers but he knows kanye’s the greatest he said it himself.
too infatuated with the numbers
i respect that power move from the youngin jcole. which is more than i can say for fabolous right now. jcole running in the fire while fab is running away smh
cole stop fucking ur money up
RIP J. Cole
Yesterday, I thot it was crazy that he pushed up. Today, I see it makes sense. Sacrifising a number 1 album for a bigger opening week. And will be part of Kanye’s extensive promo whether Kanye likes it or not…I hope the album is classic, coz if its whack again…his career is over
WHAT does it matter who sells more? Lets be happy we’re getting some good rock (see what I did there?) solid Hip-Hop/rap music.
This is what rap is about solid albums, not one POP single every 3 months (2 Chainz, French Montana and the entire YMCMB). So accept the music and worry less about the numbers.
Great move. Ye might sell more but Cole will prob have the better album.
whether he sells more thank kanye this album release, or not, j. cole has the mentality that is going to keep making him a greater and greater artist. i’ll be copping both.
I’m going with Kanye West 525k, J.Cole 207k first week…
edit:
*than kanye*
I really couldn’t care less who sells more tbh.
For me, the REAL competition is seeing who has the better album.
That’s what made the whole Graduation-Curtis battle exciting for me. The fact that Graduation outsold Curtis was less important than the fact that it was the FAR superior album.
June 18th LET’S GO!!
brilliant j cole. this is why he’s going to go far, he needed that competitive thing to make him go further. ya’ll gone besuprised by his sales. even though they more or less have the same rap fanbase. Go J Cole, your time is now.
The humility of “Born Sinner” vs. the arrogance of “Yeezus”. Cole will come with the lyrics and Kanye will bring some crazy new sounds to hip hop. Good day for music overall. Meanwhile Wale will be the one overshadow a week later, and he set his release date first. The guy just can’t catch a break hahahah.
J Cole might have a better album, it will help his promotion too by competing with him. push that promotion and prove why you da man now j cole.
All this shit is just for conversation anyway, one if not both albums won’t come out on June 18, this shit gives niggas buzz and something to talk about nothing more nothing less, If both albums come out on that day I will be surprised but I highly doubt it.
THE BEST MUSIC WILL WIN
POWER TRIP >>> BLACK SKIN HEAD AND WHAT OTHER SHIT HE PERFORMED
One of the greatest move in hip hop. We wanna see more of this competitions. Cole world!
Good move. J Cole is becoming atrue leader in hip hop, no doubt Yeezy is unhappy of this decision, he’ll be competing with one if not the greatest lyricist that came out since 2000
I love cole I’m rooting for the guy.. but ye gonna eat him alive.. we all know this but still wanna see the little guy win.. GO SIMBA GO!!
How many albums does kanye have??
J COLE WILL HAVE A BETTER ALBUM….yeezy will mos def sell more
Cole seems really confident in this album
Remember Kanye brought down 50’s streak when they went head to head, Kanye on SNL J Cole opening for Drake on his tour, so yea Kanye will sell more but I will still cop both if they are decent.
just when you thought rap got boring. i’m copping born sinner, the man is the present and future. J cole only competes with Ye, Jay, Em and kendrick at this point. all you other rappers who are not as creative and talented, take notes.
Yes kanye will sell more but I’m gonna bet the house that born sinner will be the better album.
Surpsied so many of you are going 500k500k for Kanye and somewhere, slightly above, 200k for Cole.
Love the competition though. I like Cole more than Ye so im looking forward to his album more and to be honest, I wont buy Kanye’s album but i’m sure it’ll be good though.
J. Cole is hungry. Get’em J. Cole !
I c Cole is playing chess out here, sacrificing the #1 spot for a bigger week, smart move..
How much yall wanna bet that JayZ gon feel left out and put out a song around that time! Typical Jay! lol!!!
I mean Cole is signed to the Roc. I’m sure Kanye had to know about this before he made the decision
Hes smart. Remember Kendrick dropped and shut the world down. A week later Meek Mills highly anticipated album didn’t do what they expected because everyone was talking about Kendrick’s. You dont wan to be an after thought after all that hard work put in. I feel bad for Wale though. Fab pushed his shit back asap lol
no disrespect to the J. Cole fans, but how come no one mentioned that Mac Miller is also releasing an album on the same day as him and Kanye?
Good luck to all three, but I was just curious as to why people forget that.
Because people just aren’t into Mac Miller as much as Kanye and J Cole, Mac Miller has a strong Indie fan base but not too mainstream
because nobody cares about Mac Miller! yes he has a following and he’s independant, but we’re talkin about REAL MUSIC here. stop that fam
jayz put the battery in coles back.
I don’t know why you guys are thinking Cole is going to do only 200k first week. Last album he got 218k first week without ANY buzz and with only around 400k twitter followers at the time. Right now, with this Kanye competition and Power Trip getting bigger and bigger, and his twitter followers now at 3.7 milion… he’s going to do atleast 450k+. Just watch…You guys are underestimating his fan base…ALL of the Cole stans are gonna buy atleast 2-3 copies and the regular people love J. Cole because they think he is mainstream and will fall into the trap and end up buying a copy. All the hip hop heads LOVE Cole because he is keeping hip hop alive, along with Kendrick. This is what we have been waiting for in hip hop. Cole can be the saviour of this whole shit. Born Sinner, let’s go.
LET’S GO OUT THERE AND BUY BORNSINNER….yeezy is trash these days #COLEWORLD
Would love to see Marshall and Kanye go head to head and watch the white boy put him in his place
these two pusle ass nuggas, suck my dick for some truckfit.
It would be hella cool if cole and ye did a track and dropped it the same week as there albums. #RocBoys
HES JUST DOING THE 50 CENT VS KANYE THING BACK IN 08 I THINK IT WAS….THEM BOTH COMING OUT ON THAT DAY MADE EVERYBODY GO GET 50’S ALBUM AS WELL AS KANYE’S FOR THE SAKE OF HIP HOP. AND THEY ARE GONNA DO IT THAT DAY ALSO…#VERYSMARTCOLE..AND OH YEAH THEY BROKE RECORDS THAT DAY
kanyes album is gonna be a game changer but much respect to cole for havin the balls to take a number 2 spot
SMART MOVE. HE KNOW THAT THEY HAVE A SIMILAR FAN BASE SO PPL WILL JUST GO AND BUY BOTH….
This will be a great day and an amazing week for HIP-HOP. While all eyes are on our culture other artist will try and take advantage of this opportunity. Let’s just hope “gucci mane wannabes” don’t try and release a bunch of bullshit during that week. All eyes on HIP-HOP. Elliott don’t disappoint!!!
I can only afford to buy one album that day… and based on the singles both artist have put out, I will be buying Cole…that’s a no brainer. Ye Higher Sales but Agree Born Sinner will be the Better Album…
j.cole gonna get murked.
either way, jay is getting paid that day…
[…] J.Cole On Competing With Kanye West […]
Yesterday I said Kanye’s album would probably get delayed and Cole’s people know that. I still think that’s a strong possibility. But I’m starting to buy into the idea that Cole really does want to release same day as Kanye. Its like his people are looking at the calendar and asking, ok, who’s the biggest name coming out that we can go after? Remember, Wale put his date out first and Cole jumped on it. It’s like Cole is trying to prove a point and I like it. When you got people like MTV trying to say somebody like Meek Mill is “hotter” than him…LMAO at that…then I guess he deserves a pass for trying to be gangsta about his release date.
if he would have stayed on the 25th he woulda had a #1 record because he was gonna outsell Wale easy but i respect his heart. Kanye 525K Cole 190K first week
I’m excited about J.Cole and Kanye releasing their albums on the same day. I’m going to buy both because I respect what both artists represent at this point. I’m exhausted with the molly, “turnt up” rap. And yes, Kanye may win the #’s game, but as hip hop fans… we’re the true winners. I gotta say, though, I’m partial to J.Cole so I’ll buy 3 or 4 copies just to help with his sales. Every lil bit counts. 🙂
I’m excited about J.Cole and Kanye releasing their albums on the same day. I’m going to buy both because I respect what both artists represent at this point. I’m exhausted with the molly, “turnt up” rap. And yes, Kanye may win the #’s game, but as hip hop fans… we’re the true winners. I gotta say, though, I’m partial to J.Cole so I’ll buy 3 or 4 copies just to help with his sales. Every lil bit counts.
First time posting. Let me try again
@Easton West you’re an idiot…the white boy would outsell Michael Jackson or anybody else for that matter simply based off the fact that he has a solid discography & white people who haven’t picked up a rap album since Recovery will purchase it.
Cole will sell way more than 200k first week he did 217 last album with less buzz and going against kanye only can help on top of power trip doing good on the charts I say 315k maybe more kanye not moving them numbers like he used to
for real, Cole aint selling over 150k.
Definantly fuckin with the Cole album just off this attitude truth is I really didn’t start listening ro him till this lil ep new phone needed music and he just happened to drop it that day…. any songs I should listen to???
Something for you to listen to
If Cole had major buzz this would be a good move but since “Born Sinner” has only medium buzz right now it’s a HORRIBLE move…smh idk what Cole team is thinking. Kanye is gonna have the worldwide people buying, Mac gonna have his independent fans buying while Cole has to eat the scraps. Nigga forgets his last album didn’t make a huge impact…he’s gambling with a “show & prove” album.
@ Roger Kamien
So his GOLD certified, GRAMMY nomiated debut lp didn’t have a huge impact??? C’mon B, u can’t be serious.. The only new ni99@ in the game that has more stans than Cole is K.Dot. Cole won’t outsell Ye but he’ll do @ lease 300k base off his fan base alone..
Don’t even mention Marshall, his 5th week numbers for Recovery outsold Rozay’s first week…on arguably his best album. Teflon Don
500K J.COLE up!
roc nation vs good music…. damn jay-z cant say say shit either… damn if it was diddy or birdman they would never let their artist do that against wayne lol… jayz he chillin he doesnt care drop both albums same day niggaaaa
@floor That’s what y’all said last time smh
I dont think cole is thinkin he gon do bigger numbers than kanye, its just good for hiphop. stop hating and use your brain
guess who wins in all of this: Jay-Z an THE FANS!!!! ROC-NATION
depending on how well Cole’s die-hard fan base supports him this round, plus all the general mainstream fans who like his new single buy the album also -then he could do over 200k. but Kanye definitely got it locked for sure. i notice alot of ya’ll on here judging Ye’ album based on the two songs he performed on SNL. ya’ll know damn well he got some hidden Gems on the album, “New slaves” doesnt sound like a single, but its a great album cut
Don’t underestimate Cole I’m a kanye fan and didn’t even know he had an album coming out so soon and no real single. Plus kanye will probably push his album back!!!
I’m definitely buying both albums. I hope Cole remains cohesive and true to his lyrical nature. It’ll be interesting to see the numbers though.
j cole right now is on fire, if his shit was radio played and im not talking about shit like power trip, im talking about truly yours type stuff, he deff would have a huge chance of out selling kanye. His type of music to me can be felt by many different music fans, but only certain radio pick songs are known, when u ask people about j cole.