The Warm Up

## **Singles from *The Warm Up***

1. "Lights Please"
Released: November 24, 2009

***The Warm Up*** is the second official mixtape by American rapper J. Cole, released on June 15, 2009. The mixtape went Double Platinum on DatPiff. In comparison to its predecessor mixtape, Cole believed there to be more growth and "about me being up here and me having my feet planted and learning how to maneuver."

## Background

Following the release of *The Come Up*, Cole and his manager, Ibrahim "IB" Hamad, started to do meetings. They met with record executive Mark Pitts around March 2008, playing some records. Pitts was impressed, though "nothing happen[ed] for a few months." Since they were broke, they felt it was time to secure a record deal, meeting with various people. There was extra pressure as their goal was to get Cole signed by his new music. One night at a studio session, Cole felt the pressure and expressed anger, then left. Hamad elaborated, "Not like left the session, but he stopped coming to the studio. He wanted to take some time off. He went to Elite's house, who at the time was living in Winchester, Connecticut. Somewhere over there. That's where he started working on *The Warm Up*. To him, *The Warm Up* would be freestyles. He wanted to get back to grassroots."

As the creation process began, Pitts reached out once more where they had a second meeting. Afterward, Pitts showed Jay-Z the songs. At the time, Drake released his project, *So Far Gone*, which changed the creation of *The Warm Up* as they couldn't drop a mixtape with solely freestyles. Hamad added, "Cole had already done the freestyle on Green Lantern and they had announced that he was the first signee to Roc Nation. So now it's eyeballs on him. Once you have a lot of eyeballs on you, you gotta adjust. The project took on a different shape."

## Cover artwork

The cover artwork features J. Cole standing outside, holding a basketball, as it snows. The photoshoot was done on January 10, 2009, by Chad Griffith, with Alex Haldi designing the cover. Despite the belief that the weather elements were photoshopped, his manager Ibrahim "IB" Hamad clarified on Twitter, "We were suppose to shoot in my HS gym and it was snowing mad hard so my coach ain't even show up to open the gym for us, Coach Lloyd left us out there in the snow. So we shot that shit right outside of Holy Cross HS."

Regarding the basketball, Cole explained to *Complex*, "It's based on this story from when I was in high school and I got cut from the team. A lot of people get cut from the team, but it's really about how people handle the shit. Some people quit. They get spiteful, say fuck the coach and they wont try out no more, some people will just go harder and use it for motivation to make sure that next year it's undeniable. Most people get cut and feel like they should have made it. And that's what happened with me. I used the basketball story to parallel the rap shit 'cause that's how I felt. I was like, Damn, I'm so good, but I felt like I was getting looked over. It was really just that no one was hearing me, but I felt like I was getting looked over. I was like, Damn, can't y'all see how good I am? So instead of getting frustrated and quitting I just used that as motivation."

## Track listing

All tracks written by Jermaine Cole.

**Sample credits**

* "Grown Simba" samples "Overture: A Partial History of Black Music" by Mervyn Warren.
* "Just To Get By" samples "Get By" by Talib Kweli.
* "Dead Presidents II" samples "Dead Presidents" by Jay-Z.
* "World Is Empty" samples "My World Is Empty Without You" by Lee Fields & The Expressions.
* "Dreams" samples "Wildflower" by Hank Crawford.
* "Royal Flush" samples "Royal Flush" by Big Boi (which samples "Voyage to Atlantis" by The Isley Brothers).
* "Water Break" samples "I Shot Ya" by LL Cool J and "Warning" by The Notorious B.I.G.
* "Heartache" samples \*"Born to Live with Heartache" by Mary Love.
* "Get Away" samples "Cross My Heart" by Billy Stewart.
* "Knock Knock" samples "Knock Knock" by Monica and Kanye West.
* "Ladies" samples "Ladies" by Lee Fields & The Expressions.
* "Til' Infinity" samples "'93 'Til Infinity" by Souls of Mischief.
* "The Badness" samples "Sunset Drive" by Husky Rescue.
* "Last Call" samples "Last Call" by Kanye West.
* "Losing My Balance" samples "Balance" by Sara Tavares.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "J. Cole Talks Roc Nation, Meeting Jay-Z & 'The Warm Up' Mixtape". *Complex*. May 1, 2009.
2. ↑ Phillips, Yoh (June 14, 2019). "'The Warm Up' 10 Years Later: Ibrahim "IB" Hamad Reflects on Launching J. Cole's Career". *DJBooth*.
3. ↑ Saponara, Michael (June 17, 2019). "J. Cole Reflects on 'The Warm Up's' 10th Anniversary: 'Decades Later & I'm Still Dreaming'". *Billboard*.

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