J. Cole Releases Truly Yours Until Second Album Drops

J. Cole released Truly Yours, a five song project, on Tuesday night, as a compilation for his second album being pushed back.

The Roc Nation rapper originally intended on dropping his sophomore album Born Sinner on his birthday January 28, but the album was pushed back by the record label. Cole didn’t want to disappoint his fans and dropped Truly Yours while they wait on the official release of his sophomore LP. “It’s time. I appreciate you giving me the time I needed to grow, experiment, and find the direction for my 2nd album ..And I have,” wrote the rapper on his Dream Villain blog. “Along the way I’ve recorded at least 4 albums worth of material, lots of it being unfinished demo versions waiting to be polished up, some of them are great songs and important stories that just won’t make the album (either they don’t fit Sonically, don’t fit Theme, or there’s just not enough space).”

J. Cole often drops free music for his fans from his hit mixtape Friday Night Lights to Truly Yours. “Tonight I want to give you a few of these songs because you deserve them. It’s hard as f–k for me to keep all this music from you for so long, so I know it’s been hard for you to wait,” he wrote. “Thank you for your patience. Vibe out to these songs in their raw form, no polish ..just a lot of my soul.”

Truly Yours is compiled of five songs featuring tracks entitled “Can I Holla At Ya”, “Crunch Time”, and “Tears For ODB”. The closing song “Stay” borrows the 2012 Nas track of the same name. Truly Yours comes off as a niche hold-over until the official release of Born Sinner, which Cole announced a new single dropping next week. “The album is hands down my best work yet. Can’t wait to share.”

Shanika Simmons