J. Cole Aims to Release Sophomore Album in Nine Months

While his debut appeared recently and is poised to get to the top of the charts, J. Cole told Billboard that he’s already working on a follow-up album, which he aims to have done in nine months. He told the magazine: "I'm trying to do nine months, be back in nine months with the next album. […] [A]lready tracking the second album. I've got the foundation of songs that I'm gonna put on it already, so it's just a matter of taking these songs to the next level."

Touring this past summer as an opener for Rihanna, J. Cole is now headlining his own shows, which kick off today in North America and go until October 25. Then, he’ll take his tour across the pond to the U.K. To promote his debut Cold World: The Sideline Story, Cole has a studio in his tour bus. He said about writing and recording: "There are days I can't write much, and I've got days where I can go on and on. When I'm at my best, yeah, it flows out; when I'm at my worst, it's gonna take awhile. That's just how it goes."

Cole, on the other hand, isn’t an unknown. His debut took time to come to fruition, but during this time, the rapper, signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, put out three mixtapes. He said about recording his debut: "It was stressful, but it taught me a lot about not just patience but (about) working harder. It's not like I just sat around waiting for the album to come out. I was working. I was like, 'Man, if I'm doing something that's not working, let me do what works.' So it taught me a lot about patience and work ethic, and I'm just a better artist because of it. I'm a better performer now 'cause I had to tour so much. And I'm a smarter artist, a better producer because of all that work."

At the same time, he doesn’t want to get so far from his roots that his personal story becomes foreign before his sophomore record hits: "Even though I've been touring and I'm making money now and the struggle is not the same, I didn't want to get away from that element of my story yet. I didn't want to start talking about the success part yet. I guess I wanted to almost close that chapter with the first album but still make sure I told that story, because I felt it was an important story to tell. And I can talk about the (success) next time -- hopefully."