Born Sinner - Official Tracklist

[Trimss]

I'm hyped.

[King Lance]

J. Cole – Born Sinner | Album Tracklist x Track by Track Preview

As the tracklist has finally been revealed, I finally get to share this information.

A few weeks ago, J. Cole hit the UK for a few interviews and more importantly, play his sophomore solo album Born Sinner to a select group of press, DJs, friends and influencers and I was lucky enough to have been invited to the listening session.

Sitting in the Dean Street studios in London’s center, Jermaine sat down, asked everybody in the room their names and thanked them individually for coming to listen to the LP before pulled out his iPhone to play us almost the entire album.
The entire album was produced by Cole (minus a couple of interludes) and he began working on the LP a week after the release of his debut LP Cole World: A Sideline Story as he felt unfulfilled in a sense by the debut release, despite it topping the Billboard charts and selling a lot more than his label predicted.

Born Sinner is split into two sections “Horns” and “Halo” or “Dark” and “Light” and J. Cole describes the LP as his “Escape from depression into happiness” Before rolling out the tracks…

1. “Villuminati” (The Intro Track)…
“Sometimes I brag like Hov…”
Beginning with a sample that comparable to an old cotton field chant before opening into a bass heavy trunk rattler of a track that samples The Notorious B.I.G‘s “Born sinner, the opposite of a winner” line from “Juicy”, leading into a five minute long verse highlighting the contradictions in humanity and society.
He also confronts illuminati theories and utters lines like “Please give me back my soul” in relation to what seemingly needs to be done in the industry to get ahead. The track has a myriad of transitions and Cole lets the beat breath at the end following a female voice hauntingly singing “I ain’t never letting go, I ain’t never letting you go again”.
With controversial lines like “It took a black president to tell the Japanese sorry” Cole isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers.

2. Kerney Sermon (Skit)

3. “LAnd Of The Snakes”
Following the skit which sounds like an infomercial from a money hungry church pastor, Jermaine unveiled the second track on the LP which was recorded in L.A as a result of Cole deciding he wanted to live in the City Of Angels, so he moved into a three bedroom house with about 12 of his people (keeping it classy but bringing the hood along too), but despite the upside of living in ‘Hollywood’, there was a dark side to it which inspired this cautionary tale (which I think samples “Da Art Of Storytelling (Part 1)” by Outkast) about the trappings, dangers and distractions of the City Of Angels (hence the capitalised L and A in the title) .

4. “Power Trip”
5. “Mo Money” (interlude)
A short verse which sees Cole breaking down the love, hunger and trappings of wealth and the pursuit of riches, utilising the word money in repetition during the verses to punctuate the message of the track.

6. “Trouble”
“The theme song of the “Horns” section of Born Sinner.” – J. Cole

7. “Run Away”
“Could I runaway from 50 mil like Dave Chappelle”
This track was described by J. Cole as one of his favourites on the album

8. “She Know” (f/ Amber Coffman)
This one is set to be the third single from the LP and features The Dirty Projectors singer Amber Coffman.

9. “Rich N***az”
Jermaine only played us about 10 seconds of this at the listening session, it opened up with a middle eastern intro before dropping into a club ready beat, but was swiftly cut off. so I’m just going to have to wait like everyone to hear what this sounds like.

10. Where’s Jermaine (Skit)

11. “Forbidden Fruit” (f/ Kendrick Lamar)
This one is one of my favourite tracks on the album and kind of plays on the Adam and Eve story from the book of Genesis in the Bible.
Jermaine wasn’t lying when he said there were no rap verses on the LP as Kendrick Lamar doesn’t lay down a 16 bar, but the track cleverly weaves between Cole’s vocals and Kendrick’s before letting Lamar take on the chorus duties.
This one must have been recorded quite recently as there is a line that goes “Imma drop the album same day as Kanye” in reference to moving his album release date to the same day as Kanye West’s Yeezus LP.

12. “Chaining Day”

13. Ain’t That Some Sh*t (Interlude)

14. “Crooked Smile” (f/ TLC)
The second single from the album. Speaking on the track, Jermaine said the song was about “not only disussing our imperfections, but embracing them.
Taking away the power from others that would try to use them to hurt us” and the song is the theme song of the lighter ‘Halo’ section of the Born Sinner LP.

J. Cole – Born Sinner | Album Tracklist x Track by Track Preview
Verse June 5, 2013 Hip Hop, Previews 0 Comments

j.-cole-born-sinner
As the tracklist has finally been revealed, I finally get to share this information.

A few weeks ago, J. Cole hit the UK for a few interviews and more importantly, play his sophomore solo album Born Sinner to a select group of press, DJs, friends and influencers and I was lucky enough to have been invited to the listening session.

Sitting in the Dean Street studios in London’s center, Jermaine sat down, asked everybody in the room their names and thanked them individually for coming to listen to the LP before pulled out his iPhone to play us almost the entire album.
The entire album was produced by Cole (minus a couple of interludes) and he began working on the LP a week after the release of his debut LP Cole World: A Sideline Story as he felt unfulfilled in a sense by the debut release, despite it topping the Billboard charts and selling a lot more than his label predicted.

Born Sinner is split into two sections “Horns” and “Halo” or “Dark” and “Light” and J. Cole describes the LP as his “Escape from depression into happiness” Before rolling out the tracks…

1. “Villuminati” (The Intro Track)…
“Sometimes I brag like Hov…”
Beginning with a sample that comparable to an old cotton field chant before opening into a bass heavy trunk rattler of a track that samples The Notorious B.I.G‘s “Born sinner, the opposite of a winner” line from “Juicy”, leading into a five minute long verse highlighting the contradictions in humanity and society.
He also confronts illuminati theories and utters lines like “Please give me back my soul” in relation to what seemingly needs to be done in the industry to get ahead. The track has a myriad of transitions and Cole lets the beat breath at the end following a female voice hauntingly singing “I ain’t never letting go, I ain’t never letting you go again”.
With controversial lines like “It took a black president to tell the Japanese sorry” Cole isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers.

2. Kerney Sermon (Skit)

3. “LAnd Of The Snakes”
Following the skit which sounds like an infomercial from a money hungry church pastor, Jermaine unveiled the second track on the LP which was recorded in L.A as a result of Cole deciding he wanted to live in the City Of Angels, so he moved into a three bedroom house with about 12 of his people (keeping it classy but bringing the hood along too), but despite the upside of living in ‘Hollywood’, there was a dark side to it which inspired this cautionary tale (which I think samples “Da Art Of Storytelling (Part 1)” by Outkast) about the trappings, dangers and distractions of the City Of Angels (hence the capitalised L and A in the title) .

4. “Power Trip”

5. “Mo Money” (interlude)
A short verse which sees Cole breaking down the love, hunger and trappings of wealth and the pursuit of riches, utilising the word money in repetition during the verses to punctuate the message of the track.

6. “Trouble”
“The theme song of the “Horns” section of Born Sinner.” – J. Cole

7. “Run Away”
“Could I runaway from 50 mil like Dave Chappelle”
This track was described by J. Cole as one of his favourites on the album

8. “She Know” (f/ Amber Coffman)
This one is set to be the third single from the LP and features The Dirty Projectors singer Amber Coffman.

9. “Rich N***az”
Jermaine only played us about 10 seconds of this at the listening session, it opened up with a middle eastern intro before dropping into a club ready beat, but was swiftly cut off. so I’m just going to have to wait like everyone to hear what this sounds like.

10. Where’s Jermaine (Skit)

11. “Forbidden Fruit” (f/ Kendrick Lamar)
This one is one of my favourite tracks on the album and kind of plays on the Adam and Eve story from the book of Genesis in the Bible.
Jermaine wasn’t lying when he said there were no rap verses on the LP as Kendrick Lamar doesn’t lay down a 16 bar, but the track cleverly weaves between Cole’s vocals and Kendrick’s before letting Lamar take on the chorus duties.
This one must have been recorded quite recently as there is a line that goes “Imma drop the album same day as Kanye” in reference to moving his album release date to the same day as Kanye West’s Yeezus LP.

12. “Chaining Day”

13. Ain’t That Some Sh*t (Interlude)

14. “Crooked Smile” (f/ TLC)
The second single from the album. Speaking on the track, Jermaine said the song was about “not only disussing our imperfections, but embracing them.
Taking away the power from others that would try to use them to hurt us” and the song is the theme song of the lighter ‘Halo’ section of the Born Sinner LP.

15. “Let Nas Down”
One of the most important tracks on the album. There is a long intro story to go with this, which Jermaine broke down in detail, but in a nutshell following the release of the “Work Out”, which despite dominating radio and going double platinum received the worst feedback Cole had ever faced in his career. Well one day J. Cole received a call from one of his idols and production mentor, No I.D. who informed him that he had a conversation with Nas (who is Cole’s favourite rapper) and Nasir wasn’t happy about the single saying “Why did he do that? Cole is the one. He didn’t need to make that record, he shouldn’t have done it”. That statement cut like a knife with cole, but it gave him the fuel to write the track and this one definitly is the highlight of the LP.

16. Born Sinner (Feat. Fauntleroy)
We didn’t get to hear this one. But hey we already gave you too much.

Deluxe:

17. Miss America
18. New York Times (Feat. 50 Cent & Bas)
19. Is She Gon Pop
20. N***az Know

http://www.soulculture.co.uk/music-blog ... k-preview/

[SG.]

50 Cent? Not gonna lie, that's random as fuck.

Pretty nice though., I'm 110% certain this will be better than Cole World.

[PAINKILLƎR]

Damn I seriously want this album right now this very fucking moment.!

[Almostlity]

Holy shit, Amber coffman... Her vocals on Major Lazers 'Get free' are gorgeous. Cant wait to hear this album fam

[mwm5952]

im hyped to hear this. Love me some Cole. He's my favorite up and comer in the game and I'm hoping this album really gets his name out there.

[CrashBand]

Such a shame that one line ruined an otherwise incredible song.
Looking forward to the album, though. Hopefully it's not filled with stupidity like Crooked Smile.

It didn't ruin the song, lol. He was asking the question.

EminemBase reckons the evidence points to no correlation between skin colour and selling records and put up a pretty good argument.

However, the topic probably would have been on his mind a lil bit as J. Cole is half caucasion. His demographic of listeners would probably change.

I bet you guys didn't think "Let's do the math: if I was black, I woulda sold half" ruined the song.

[Mr.DGAF]

Such a shame that one line ruined an otherwise incredible song.
Looking forward to the album, though. Hopefully it's not filled with stupidity like Crooked Smile.

It didn't ruin the song, lol. He was asking the question.

EminemBase reckons the evidence points to no correlation between skin colour and selling records and put up a pretty good argument.

However, the topic probably would have been on his mind a lil bit as J. Cole is half caucasion. His demographic of listeners would probably change.

I bet you guys didn't think "Let's do the math: if I was black, I woulda sold half" ruined the song.

I've been thinking the exact same thing for a few days. Glad I'm not the only one.

[NotFinished]

LET NAS DOWN Such a GOAT name.

[King Lance]

2 of my favorite newcomers on the same track

[ImANoob]

dis shit gon' be gret

[EminemBase]

Such a shame that one line ruined an otherwise incredible song.
Looking forward to the album, though. Hopefully it's not filled with stupidity like Crooked Smile.

It didn't ruin the song, lol. He was asking the question.

EminemBase reckons the evidence points to no correlation between skin colour and selling records and put up a pretty good argument.

However, the topic probably would have been on his mind a lil bit as J. Cole is half caucasion. His demographic of listeners would probably change.

I bet you guys didn't think "Let's do the math: if I was black, I woulda sold half" ruined the song.

I've been thinking the exact same thing for a few days. Glad I'm not the only one.

... J.Cole's demographic change because he's half Caucasian? Lmao... no.

I don't know if these rappers are strange people who listen to other rappers or artists based on what colour skin they have, but I know of not a single person in my life-time, no friend, no rap listener etc. who has ever cared or chose to listen to someone either way based on that.

You don't automatically relate more to someone because they happen to be of a similar race to you, you relate to people based on your personality traits, world views, humour and ideas.

If Eminem was black, he WOULDN'T have sold half. Presume he's black for a moment, does "Stan" become 'just another record' then? FUCK NO. It was groundbreaking in its delivery, storytelling... beyond the initial shock, all people were talking about and the only thing shifting boat loads of albums was his content. Catchy, innovative music sells. Skin colour, doesn't.

2Pac sold gigantic amounts of records too. And guess what, most of his fans were white as well. And he sold what he did because of his MUSIC, his passion, his melodies and his artistry.

Some of the biggest selling music artists in history are black, and some brilliant white rappers never shift a fucking unit. If the music isn't catchy and doesn't connect, it won't sell. Eminem makes extremely catchy music which is very melodic and memorable, that's the only key to people initially connecting to your music. Add to that then his substance, amazing skill, hilarious self-deprecation and left-field humour, ingenious concepts and you have worldwide success.

If Eminem did not have these elements, he would not have sold at all like he did.

Being white is not a factor beyond an initial "oh okay, that's different" but then it's "okay, show me what you got"... you don't sell 100 million fucking records off the novel fact that you happen to have white skin in a genre which is mostly black. That doesn't stick for 14 years.

An analogy which illustrates the indifference of initial difference is something Chris Rock said, and many huge stand-ups have... people assume they'll more easily get laughs at local clubs when they try out new material: wrong. They have all said that they get about a 5 minute pass of "oh wow, Chris Rock" but then it's like "okay, be funny, go" and it's just as hard as if they were a nobody again, as people can't laugh at what isn't funny, it's the same gig, their initial status fades.

Similarly, when Eminem first hit, it was "oh... Dre signed a white rapper. White?... weird... " and THEN "Okay, what you got." If the music wasn't GENIUS, it would have meant nothing. Once you get past the initial "oh, different..." it means nothing. It's akin to a gimmick; if a rapper had pink hair you would go "... pink hair... weird..." as you never see it, but after that initial moment you couldn't give two fucks, then it's just "okay, rap..." and you'll only like or dislike that material based ON THE MATERIAL. The pink hair factor is not entering your mind.

I didn't even think about the fact that Eminem was white when I was growing up listening to him, and I couldn't have cared less. If MMLP wasn't comedic and political genius, I wouldn't have been listening to it, regardless of his fucking race. All that matters is what's coming out of the speakers.

I listen to rappers based on what I HEAR, I couldn't give two fucks where they're from, what they look like, and definitely couldn't care less what race they are. And I don't know of anybody who cares or even thinks about that... at all. It's about music and talent, nothing else.

[Kill You]

Pretty good tracklist. For some reason I'm looking forward to Land of Snakes.

[Francesco]

Now after it's been confirmed... That's promising!

[CrashBand]

at thinking skin colour isn't a factor whatsoever in the demographics of your fans. But I agree that it isn't the determining factor in Eminem being the highest selling rapper of all time or Royce not selling that many records.

But do you think it's just coincidence that rappers such as Eyedea, Slug, Sadistik, Watsky have a bigger proportion of white fans than underground black artists like Saigon or Black Thought.

If J. Cole wasn't black at all, firstly I think his content would be different, and secondly, I think he would have a higher proportion of white fans.