Music

Stay Curious // iixii // Lazer Technologies // Prev: CoinDesk, Roc Nation // based

Debut album is pure creative energy, untouched by industry pressures or audience expectations. Plus, artists usually spend years refining them, so they are often packed with their best early ideas. 

This reminds me of J. Cole’s new podcast, where he talks about how his early mixtapes got better reactions than his debut album. He opens up about the intense pressure to create a hit song before the album could even drop. He breaks down a few meetings with Jay-Z, where Jay would listen to a new song and say things like “you’re almost there, but this still isn’t the one.” By the time the album finally came out, it felt like the moment had passed, and the buzz just wasn’t the same

yeah i feel like The Warm Up is J Cole’s true debut in my eyes

I agree. The album was basically those tapes and a few other songs that didn’t make a big difference

There’s an argument to be made for Friday Night Lights too

He put that together just to not let the hype die down while searching for the album hit. To me, that was the album