Tag: "j. cole"

J. Cole has been teasing plans for a Sophomore effort since the end of 2012, and it seems fans excited to hea his latest work will have to wait just a bit longer for those sounds to meet their ears.

In a recent tweet to fans, J. Cole unveiled that Born Sinner will now arrive in stores June 25. He offered no reasoning for the added delay, but we’ll just chalk it up to needing additional time to perfect.

Hoping to keep angry fans on his bandwagon, Cole did offer fans the visuals for his latest single “Power Trip” a few hours after announcing the Born Sinner delay. You can view the video, which features crooner Miguel, below. The video is directed by Nabil and was shot in his hometown of Fayetteville, North Carolina. Continue reading ‘J. Cole Announces ‘Born Sinner’ Release Date; Releases “Power Trip” Video’

OurStage artist Jitta On The Track has been making big waves since he won the OurStage “Rise” Competition and landed a coveted opening slot on Drake’s Club Paradise Tour. He’s since been signed to DAS Communications, the management company that has handled artists from Ke$ha to The Black Eyed Peas, and has even been featured on MTV News and Vibe. And judging by the official announcement of his upcoming album’s release date, it looks like he’s keeping in close touch with some of the buds he made on tour. In a brief announcement from the set of the “Alphabet Soup” music video, Jitta tells us that the album is going to drop on Thanksgiving Day and teases some of the artists who will have feature spots. He’s censored some of the bigger names to keep them secret, but we think we can make out at least J. Cole and French Montana, both of whom he met on The Club Paradise Tour. Sure helps to have friends in high places, doesn’t it? See if you can guess who the other spots will be!

More like this:

• Tour Update Day Two: Jitta On The Track’s Club Paradise Odyssey Begins
• Tour Update Day Three: Jitta On The Track Hangs With Hip-Hop Royalty

Hip-hop artist Jitta On The Track has proven just how powerful an OurStage opportunity can be. Back in May, Jitta was selected as the winner of the “Rise” Competition, and immediately hit the road. Traveling in style on his OurStage.com customized tour bus, he joined Drake, J. Cole, Waka Flocka Flame, and more of hip-hop’s finest on the Club Paradise Tour. Jitta opened 22 shows of the tour, hung out with his favorite artists and performed to thousands of new fans for an entire month.

This opportunity launched him from Connecticut’s most promising up-and-comer to an artist recognized by the likes of MTV News and AllHipHop.com. In fact, while on the road, Jitta was able to sign a deal with industry heavyweights DAS Communications, the management team responsible for breaking artists like Ke$ha and The Black Eyed Peas. We look forward to seeing this ambitious young artist continue to do big things in the years to come!

Check out this recap of Jitta’s incredible experience on the Club Paradise Tour:

This week’s SoundTrax is hereby dedicated to all the awesome music festivals this summer. Whether you’ve been to every festival this year, or if you’ve missed them all completely, we’re offering a recap of this season’s standouts and giving you a taste of what’s still to come. Enjoy some of your favorite music from Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Firefly, Kahbang, and many more.

Bad Rabbits get things going with their indie pop number, “Neverland,” followed by tracks from Late Cambrian, Passion Pit, and The Dirty Guv’nahs. Later we hear “Be Mine” from The Alabama Shakes, “Lights Please” from J Cole, and “The Zephyr Song” by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Also in the mix are The Gaslight Anthem, Young The Giant, and many, many more. Enjoy the festivities!

More like this:

• KahBang Saturday: Lady Lamb The Beekeeper, Chromeo, My Morning Jacket
• SoundTrax: Brats And Brews

The Real Hip Hop Network’s “Rise” Competition is officially a wrap. The competition garnered entries from over 1,400 hip hop acts nationwide, with fans completing over 350,000 judging battles to help select a winner. That winner is finally here and his name is Jitta On The Track. Jitta is a Connecticut-based MC primed for success. With heavy rotation both in clubs and on Connecticut radio, and an ever increasing online fan base, Jitta is ready to take his game to the next level. He’ll be joining Drake, J. Cole and Wacka Flocka Flame on the Club Paradise Tour beginning this Thursday, May 17 in Houston, TX. Check out his reaction to the news in the video below and stay tuned for updates on his tour experience.

The 2012 GRAMMY nominations are in and it looks like another big year for hip hop, with the genre’s brightest stars earning the majority of nominations for the music industry’s biggest honor.

Leading the pack with seven nominations is Kanye West. His hit “All Of The Lights” earned nods for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Song of The Year while his joint album with Jay-Z, Watch The Throne, is up against his own My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Fantasy for Best Rap Album.  The duo is also nominated for Best Rap Performance for their song, “Otis”.

Bruno Mars and Adele are tied with Foo Fighters with six nominations each.  While it may seem a little dated by now, Mars’ debut missed last year’s cut-off.  His debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans is up for Album of The Year while his hit, “Grenade” is vying for Song Of The Year, Record of The Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.  Lil Wayne isn’t far behind with five nominations including Best Rap Performance for  “Look At Me Now” with Busta Rhymes and Chris Brown. Like West, Weezy will battle himself in the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration category where he’s nominated for “I’m On One” with Rick Ross, Drake, and DJ Khaled and “Motivation” his duet with Kelly Rowland.

Continue reading ‘Soundcheck: GRAMMY Showdown — Nicki vs. Kanye vs. Jay-Z’

The 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards was filmed in Atlanta on October 1 and aired on BET last week.  Packed with powerful performances and full of surprises, the show offered the world a glimpse of some of rap’s most promising up and comers through their nine cyphers, and gave some unexpected players a turn at the mic while other big names were noticeably MIA.

The show’s opening set the pace for the night.  A fire-filled stage revealed Young Jeezy who spit some verses before throwing the mic to T.I. Making his triumphant return to the stage in his hometown of Atlanta, the recently–released rapper got straight to the point, spitting “I been out of sight/ been out of mind…another year of prison/ promise this is it for me/ trying to make it through the storm/ should be makin’ history. /No feeling sorry keep your pity and your sympathy/ good or bad take it like a man whatever’s meant to be.”

Hosted by Mike Epps, the show was light on awards. An hour into the show, they had only given out one. The night’s biggest winner was Chris Brown (who couldn’t be bothered to show up) for his hit, “Look At Me Now” featuring Busta Rhymes and Lil Wayne. The song nabbed a total of four awards including Best Hip-Hop Video, People’s Champ Award, Reese’s Perfect Combo Award and Best Featured Verse from Busta.

Continue reading ‘Soundcheck: 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards: Scathing Cyphers, Political Points, and Missing Winners’

• Radiohead’s completing the holy triumvirate of mainstreamness. Hipsters everywhere can start weeping.
• Dave Grohl’s channeling his not-so-inner nerd for this one.
• See, Xtina can agree with Adam Levine… sometimes.
• As if Pink Floyd wasn’t trippy enough, now we got MGMT on top of that.
• Look at it this way, Ramsay, you don’t have to tour with KOL anymore. It’s all about the silver lining.
• Oh snap. Go, J.Cole, go.
• Should just call it “Abdul x Cowell” already.
• Well, there goes one of the best-named bands ever.
• Vegas welcomes back the Rocket Man at $500 a pop. Worth it.

Jermaine Lamarr Cole, better known as J.Cole, has been hip hop’s best kept secret for years.  Ever since Jay-Z signed him to RocNation, we’ve been waiting to hear what all the hype was about.  After his debut album was pushed back…and back last Spring, our interest in the newbie only intensified. After a jam-packed summer of touring and teasing, the wait is finally over.

Cole will release his debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story on September 27 on the heels of a massive build up.  In the months leading up to his debut release, Cole treated fans to new music through his “Any Given Sunday” campaign, delivering singles each week since July 13. While he had initially planned on dropping a mixtape prior to his major release, he changed his mind, deciding to stream music on his Web site and Ustream instead.

He told media in July, “The music I was gonna put on the mixtape I’mma just slowly drop it. I’ll just drop it out online and they’ll find it. You know, my fans will find it how they will. I’m confident. I don’t wanna run and drop a mixtape. I don’t want people to get confused with that. I don’t want them to love it, because they’ll love it. If I put out a mixtape they’re gonna love it cause I don’t know how to put out a bad mixtape. That’s the problem.”

Cole wasn’t being cocky.  His mixtapes are what gained the attention of Jay-Z back in 2007—The Come Up mixtape earned him a spot on The Blueprint 3 in 2009. After his secondmixtape, The Warm Up hit the streets that year, Jay signed him as the first artist at his RocNation imprint. Since then, Hov has kept his protégé on his toes, making him wait til the eleventh hour to lend a verse to “Mr. Nice Watch”.

Continue reading ‘Soundcheck Album Preview: Will J.Cole Take Over With ‘Cole World’?’