Power Trip

we had high hopes for jermaine. his mixtape "the warm up" was a needed shot of vigor in a slumping independent scene, wanting for a sellable, sobering presence. his college kid pluckiness and tupac-nas derivative flows were respectful without mimicking. his collegiality was light-hearted, but not obnoxious. then, he got signed to a record deal, and it all unraveled.

J. Cole may have taken a brief hiatus from the public eye after the success of 2011's The Sideline Story, but as of late he's proved that he never really left.  Already releasing a FreeEp this week, Cole followed up today, as promised, with the first single from his forthcoming album, Born Sinner.