This is his year. Before he trounce over to Europe on tour with Drake, J. Cole takes the time out to pen a post to Karen Civil about last year and his experiences gained in the business. Off one single. He also discusses why he did Friday Night Lights.
It’s 2011, January 2nd. I’ve got grey hair now, according to Karen. I’m about to get on the plane in about three hours and head to Europe. I’ve only been to London and Paris before, but this time I’m going all over Europe on tour with Drake. It’s a blessing for me to be even able to do this.
At this point in my career, it’s really just one single that came out last year and I already have such a strong fanbase. Before I go any further, I want to thank ALL the fans for the continued support – all the OG fans and all the new ones too. We still have a lot more special things in store. We really haven’t gotten started yet. With that said, I’m really grateful for last year because it was an incredible learning experience. My entire 2010 was just like training – a training exercise for what I think 2011 is going to be.
I learned so much from just putting out a single, touring the radio world and doing radio promo and just really learning that world. It helped me as an artist too because it helped me figure out how to reach the masses more. Just putting that single out and going to all these different radio stations from the super urban ones to the super pop ones and then just TV and video. Then shooting my first official video and the BET Awards, BET Hip Hop Awards, it was just so many things I did last year that I feel were like teasers for what this year is going to be. I want to thank the label – from Roc Nation to Columbia – and my management – which is ByStorm – and my whole Dreamville team.
I told myself a long time ago I wasn’t going to put out another mixtape before the album. That’s one thing I’m learning: you never know anything in this game. I put out Friday Night Lights because the wait was long enough for people to get new music. The response was incredible. We broke the Internet, thank you very much all the Internet breakers. I’m in the shoe store right now and people are still coming to me saying Friday Night Lights was incredible, so I really appreciate that.
My goal right now is just straight album. I’m still on the road a lot, but my number one priority is finishing the album and putting out the singles. I’m trying to win a fuckin’ Grammy. After that, my goal for 2011 is also production. That’s my next main goal after the oh-so-important album. I want to produce for other artists that I love and respect, upcoming artists that I love and respect, so yeah that’s where I want my year to be. I want to have a super successful year. I want to blow up into a totally different stratosphere by the end of this year.
source: kc
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