J. Cole Explains Album Delays, Talks "Friday Night Lights (Video)

While his desire to reach the masses holds up his debut, J.Cole hits UStream and promises a new mixtape "better than a lot of people's albums."

J.Cole wrapped up an eventful Friday night, which saw Kanye West feature him on the G.O.O.D. Friday’s track, “Looking For Trouble” as well as Cole’s own performance in Milwaukee by starting up a quick UStream session. In addition to answering the often-asked question about why his debut is taking so long, Cole gave a few more details on his upcoming Friday Night Lights mixtape, which will contain 18-20 songs of all new material.

While preparing Villematic, he threw out the idea of gathering all his recent leaks and compiling a mixtape. Cole says he was hesitant to use the term “mixtape,” because he honestly felt the quality of the music was superior to some of the material currently available in stores. As such, the only reason Friday Night Lights is labeled as a mixtape, is because it will be free. Cole called his previous outlook on mixtapes stubborn, and said he hoped to change that by giving fans what they have been waiting for.

“Friday Night Lights is so good,” he explained, while also previewing a few tracks. “Really, I know anybody that’s a fan for real knows that I said I didn’t wanna do a mixtape. I was being real stubborn, because I didn’t want to over saturate shit…I didn’t really know how the game worked. You don’t really know when your album is coming out; it’s not really up to me. Not saying it’s up to the label, but things have to line up. I don’t even want to do 50,000 - 60,000. I really want this album to be something that people everywhere get and hear. I used to want to come into the game and get slept on. Imagine that like, ‘I gotta get slept on!’ But it doesn’t have to be like that. I can have a classic and still reach the masses. “

Slated for a November 12 release, J.Cole says the Friday Night Lights theme, which is taken from the movie and television show of the same name.

“It still embodies that J.Cole character—that basketball, high school athlete, varsity feeling without making it specific to basketball. People usually associate Friday Night Lights with football,” Cole added. “Where I’m in my career is like how a high school basketball player feels before a game. It’s excitement for the game, but it’s a little bit of nervousness about the game. There’s all these emotions—that’s what I think about when I think about Friday Night Lights.”