I remember seeing the news on 2DopeBoyz about the first signing to Roc Nation. As a Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella fan, it was exciting to see who was next to come from the Roc camp. And until the announcement of the signing, everyone was unsure about what the label actually was, would it just be for Jay? Would he sign others? The feeling at the time was that it was going to be more a pop label, Hov hoping to continue the success he had with Def Jam with Rihanna and Ne-Yo.

Being the obsessive fan, I went back and found everything I could from this new artist, usually by searching the tag on 2DopeBoyz, downloading it all and syncing it onto my iPod. So far this new artist, J. Cole, had only one mixtape, The Come Up with DJ On Point (you can all hear it when you see that name “and you know why his name is On Point cause he on point pussy”). After all, Hov doesn’t hand out co-signs everywhere, he has been select in who he endorses. And he has a great track record, so it was only right I went back and listened to Cole’s previous work.

While The Come Up felt like a collection of songs, Cole flexing his lyrical ability, complete with DJ drops all over the place, his first release following his Roc Nation signing, The Warm Up felt like far more of a cohesive project. As Cole has done throughout his career, the majority of the tracks are self-produced, with just Syience and Elite contributing other beats. This self reliance Cole has exhibited has become a hallmark of his career.

On the closing track, Cole borrows the Kanye West classic off College Dropout, Last Call, with Bette Midler’s sample that Evidence found proclaiming “here’s to the Roc, here’s to Roc-A-Fella.” And just like Kanye, Cole chooses to end the track, and the project, speaking instead of rapping, telling his story up to that point. He compares the mixtape to someone who doesn’t make the team, the disappointment he felt when he didn’t get a deal after releasing The Come Up. At that point he had 2 choices, give up, or go harder. And he went harder. Towards the end of the recording of the mixtape, Cole signs the deal.

2009 was a huge year for mixtapes, we started to see the foundation of what hip hop was going to be in the next decade. Major artists started signing up this new batch of acts who were more internet savvy, more relatable. Wayne signed Drake, T.I. signed B.o.B, Kanye had Cudi and Big Sean, and Jay of course had J. Cole. 2009 saw Drake drop So Far Gone at the beginning of the year, Kendrick Lamar release his self-titled EP along with releases from Wale and Big Sean. While Friday Night Lights is often considered the best pre-album Cole project, there is a rawness to The Warm Up that makes it stand out amongst 2009’s releases. Friday Night Lights was Cole in album mode, frustrated at not being released yet. The Warm Up is Cole still trying to get signed/noticed. This hunger shines through.

And this hunger is something that Cole has consistently gone back to. Cole has always been compared to Drake and Kendrick, with the former getting more commercial success, and Kendrick getting more critical success. Maybe it’s this that allow Cole to exhibit that hunger until as recently as this year. Much was made about his guest verse run in 2018, everyone from veterans like Royce da 5’9″, to his contemporaries like Wale and Jay Rock, to new artists like 21 Savage and MoneyBagg Yo was graced with a verse from Cole. And then debates would start “did Cole kill x on his own shit?” And many times, the feeling was yes.

On his 2019 single Middle Child says:

I’m dead in the middle of two generations

I’m little bro and big bro all at once

One way that Cole stands above his peers, is his role as a leader. Despite being signed to Hov, in the early stages, Cole was seen as the Nas to Drake’s Jay – Z. While these comparisons have disappeared as the years have gone on and lines have blurred, the comparison is still apt. Nas was always seen as the street prophet, and Cole is that for a new generation. His concern for the younger generation as shown on his album K.O.D. exhibits that, sitting down with Lil Pump, reaching out to artists like Lil Baby, Ski Mask the Slump God and Young Nudy, Cole is middle child in that he is currently between 2 generations.

10 years after The Come Up we are on the eve of the release of Revenge of the Dreamers III. This is following the excitement following the recording sessions back in January 2019. Cole has curated a label full of up and coming artists, from various parts of the country, with varying sounds. And he has let them shine, putting a verse where they need one, but for the most part, letting the artists develop their own sound. And for this label compilation, Cole has created a buzz, by inviting an eclectic range of artists, from legends like Akon and Ludacris, to artists from his generation like Big K.R.I.T. and Curren$y, to the new batch like Reason, Saba and Smino. The buzz created from the marketing means all eyes are on this album, and his label will be at the forefront.

J. Cole, at 34, is seen as an elder statesman of hip hop. When you look at what Hov was doing at 34, to where he is at 50, it is crazy to imagine Cole’s trajectory. And is this what attracted Jay to Cole in the first place? On the Roc-A-Fella days, albums would have Jay all over them and vice versa, artists would get into the studio with the hottest producers, those artists. Compare that to Cole, he has had 2 songs with Hov, one on his debut album, and one on Blueprint 3, Cole has produced his own beats or used his in house production for the bulk of his career. Jay wanted someone to stand on his own 2 while he concentrated on other things.

On Last Call, Cole says:

We got a lotta shit for ’09, ‘010, ‘011, ‘0 goddamn 35

And looking at how his career has developed from 2009 to 2019, I believe it.