Throwbacks: J. Cole - Cole World: The Sideline Story

Before September 27, 2011, Jermaine Cole was the Roc Nation prospect who had to out-rap his own mixtape legacy. Dropping *Cole World: The Sideline Story* meant following up *Friday Night Lights* (2010), a tape so acclaimed it practically cursed his studio debut.

You can hear the friction between underground hunger and mainstream mandate all over this record. He brought Trey Songz in for the radio-ready "Can't Get Enough" and finally secured the Jay-Z verse on "Mr. Nice Watch." But the core of the tracklist relies on his self-produced joints. "Lights Please" is the exact song that got him in the room with Hov in the first place. "Dollar and a Dream III" proved he could still flip a sample into a sermon. People love to debate if this album watered down his mixtape run for Columbia Records chart metrics. Truth is, Cole insisting on producing the bulk of it himself alongside guys like No I.D. and Elite is the only reason he survived the major label machine with his identity intact. He built his own foundation while everyone else was waiting for a blueprint. Hit play below.