ibrahim hamad Archives - New Hip Hop News

J. Cole’s Breakout Mixtape ‘The Warm Up’ Is Finally Available On Streaming Platforms

November 23, 2024 by newhiphopnews

J. Cole’s trip down music memory lane continues. Last week, the “Port Antonio” rapper posted his debut mixtape, The Come Up, Vol. 1, to digital streaming platforms. Yesterday (November 22) another Cole World goodie was shared to streaming.

J. Cole’s sophomore mixtape, 2009’s The Warm Up, is now accessible across Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal. While many J. Cole supporters consider The Come Up, Vol. 1 his breakout, The Warm Up was undeniably his breakthrough.

As Cole lore goes, the project’s single, “Lights Please” caught Jay-Z’s attention which lead to a deal with Roc Nation. The rest is hip-hop history.

Following its release, J. Cole’s longtime friend, manager, and business partner Ibrahim ‘Ib’ Hamad took to X (formerly Twitter) to talk about the challenges in getting the project onto the music servers.

“Took us 15 years, but I’m so happy we’re able to get this up,” he wrote. “This project is very special to me, shit really put Cole in the game, and we ain’t look back since. Forever grateful for this project, legit changed n****s lives forever.’”

Continue below to view the tracklist and artwork for J. Cole’s The Warm Up.

Tracklist

1. “Intro (The Warm Up)”
2. “Welcome”
3. “Can I Live”
4. “Grown Simba”
5. “Just To Get By”
6. “Lights Please”
7. “Dead Presidents II”
8. “I Get Up”
9. “World Is Empty”
10. “Dreams” featuring Brandon Hines
11. “Royal Flush”
12. “Dollar And A Dream II”
13. “Water Break (Interlude)”
14. “Heartache”
15. “Get Away”
16. “Knock Knock”
17. “Ladies” featuring Lee Fields and The Expressions
18. “Til’ Infinity”
19. “The Badness” featuring Omen
20. “Hold It Down”
21. “Last Call”
22. “Losing My Balance”

Artwork

The Warm Up is on streaming now via Cole World Inc./Interscope. Find more information here.

J. Cole & Future Almost Collabed On “No Role Modelz,” Cole’s Manager Reveals

October 22, 2023 by newhiphopnews

J. Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive is among the most beloved hip-hop albums of the 2010s decade, and for good reason. His excellent performances, deep but relatable themes, engaging instrumentation, and sequencing made for an eye-opening experience for many rap fans. In addition, it started a pretty common meme online: “Cole went platinum with no features.” It’s a true statement, one that the North Carolina MC’s repeated multiple times, and one that people sometimes clown stans for since they can’t shut up about it. However, his manager Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad recently revealed that said meme almost never happened.

“Bumping FHD all day,” Ib quote-tweeted an old anniversary post for the project this week (its anniversary is on December 9). “One of the best albums of the decade in any genre. And to think, we were trying to get Mos Def to do the ”03 Adolescence’ hook and Future to do the end of ‘No Role Modelz’ but it never worked out. Would have ruined all the platinum with no features jokes [various crying-laughing emojis].” All in all, these a pretty wild possibilities to consider in hindsight.

Ib Reveals What Could’ve Been On J. Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive

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Of course, Mos Def and J. Cole sounds like a match made in lyrical, dense, but still accessible and down-to-earth hip-hop heaven. Especially for a track as emotionally potent and narrative as “’03 Adolescence,” it would’ve made for a great link-up. What’s harder to imagine is how Future’s auto-crooned toxic street raps could’ve matched up on the Dreamville boss’ “No Role Modelz”- which interestingly aged poorly as of late thanks to the Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith drama. Sure, the song already has a trap-inspired beat, but emotively and chemistry-wise, it sounds a bit mismatched on paper. If you’re in that boat right now, just think about Fewtch singing “Don’t save her, she don’t want to be saved” and you’ll be convinced in due time.

Meanwhile, what other features would you have liked to see on 2014 Forest Hills Drive? Would Mos Def and Hendrix fit like a glove on these cuts, elsewhere on the tracklist, or not at all on the record? Whatever the case, let us know in the comments down below. For more news and the latest updates on J. Cole and Future, check back in with HNHH.

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J. Cole Didn’t Diss NBA YoungBoy On New Verse, Manager Ib Claims

September 29, 2023 by newhiphopnews

Hold your horses, folks; it looks like the apparent feud between J. Cole and NBA YoungBoy is more one-sided than people assumed. For those unaware, fans recently went wild for the former’s performance on the track “The Secret Recipe.” with Lil Yachty. While they assumed that he actually sent shots at YB in his verse, some more trustworthy authority figures cleared the air. Moreover, Dreamville manager and close friend of Cole’s, Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad, took to Twitter to address these speculations. He doesn’t understand how people drew this connection, although it’s not as unreasonable as he paints.

“I’m pretty sure this is [cap emoji],” Ib wrote on the social media platform. “Not sure how y’all heard that Cole verse and put that together, impressive [crying-laughing emoji].” Here’s what J. Cole actually rapped on the song that people think took aim at YoungBoy. “N***as makin’ threats and I laugh, that’s ’cause you ain’t a threat,” the North Carolina MC spit. “Don’t ask how I feel ’bout no rappers, s**t, they okay, I guess / Incomin’ call, press the button, the one that say accept / He FaceTime to ask for a feature and saw the face of death.”

Ib Denies Assumption That J. Cole Dissed NBA YoungBoy

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Meanwhile, people think this connects back to the Baton Rouge hitmaker’s bars for J. Cole on his track “F**k The Industry, Pt. 2.” On it, YB took aim at a lot of different rappers, as the title suggests, but the feud with Cole might seem bizarre. Regardless, these more direct shots also center around features. “J a h*e, that n***a played it cold like he was gon’ do a feature,” YoungBoy rapped on the track. “So I texted his line a muscle sign, I swear it’s gon’ be nice to meet you.”

Of course, it’s likely that this intervention from Ib will kill this dead in the water. After all, the 4 Your Eyez Only lyricist is well-known for going back on rap beefs, especially with the newer generation outside of his style and approach. As such, maybe the Never Broke Again leader holds some contempt, but it looks like Cole isn’t reciprocating anything. With that in mind, stay posted on HNHH for the latest news and updates on YoungBoy and J. Cole.

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