J. Cole will be joining Drake’s "Club Paradise" tour this summer along with Waka Flocka Flame, Meek Mill, 2 Chainz, and French Montana.

J. Cole will join the second leg of Drake’s tour as the 27-date run kicks off May 7 in Concord, California. J. Cole will join the tour the next day, May 8, in Irvine, CA.

Tickets will go on sale March 23. Citi cardmembers will have access to pre-sale tickets in advance. See the full set of tour dates below.

May 7 – Concord, CA – Sleep Train Pavilion at Concord (J. Cole will not be appearing)
May 8 – Irvine, CA – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
May 10 – Phoenix, AZ – Ashley Furniture HomeStore Pavilion
May 11 – Las Vegas, NV – MGM Grand Garden Arena
May 13 – Denver, CO – Comfort Dental Amphitheatre
May 14 – Albuquerque, NM – Hard Rock Casino Albuquerque Presents The Pavilion
May 16 – Dallas, TX – Gexa Energy Pavilion
May 17 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
May 19 – Charlotte, NC – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Charlotte
May 20 – Atlanta, GA – Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood
May 22 – Raleigh, NC – Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek
May 23 – Virginia Beach, VA – Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach
May 25 – Washington, DC – Verizon Center
May 26 – Pittsburgh, PA – First Niagara Pavilion
May 28 – Cleveland, OH – Blossom Music Center
May 30 – Detroit, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre
June 1- Indianapolis, IN – Klipsch Music Center
June 2 – Chicago, IL – First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
June 5 – Memphis, TN – FedExForum
June 6 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center
June 8 – Darien Lake, NY – Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
June 9 – Philadelphia, PA – Susquehanna Bank Center
June 11 – Hartford, CT – Comcast Theatre
June 12 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
June 14 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center
June 16 – New York, NY – Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
June 17 – Boston, MA – Comcast Center ]]> http://www.jcole.org/2012/j-cole-joins-drakes-club-paradise-tour-2012/feed/ 0 http://www.jcole.org/2012/j-cole-new-spring-2012-tour-dates/ http://www.jcole.org/2012/j-cole-new-spring-2012-tour-dates/#comments Wed, 21 Mar 2012 19:52:38 +0000 admin http://www.jcole.org/2012/j-cole-new-spring-2012-tour-dates/ More >]]> J. Cole’s debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story scored him a “Best New Artist” GRAMMY nomination and sold 217,000 copies in its first week to become the #1 album in the country. It was the biggest digital album debut from a new artist since January 2010. The album is now certified Gold and includes the Platinum single, “Work Out.” Cole was recently seen performing his hit single “Can’t Get Enough” with The Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Next up, he is getting set to launch his new video for “Nobody’s Perfect” featuring Missy Elliott.

Campus Consciousness Spring 2012 / The Sideline Story Tour
4/11 /12 – Kingston, RI University Of Rhode Island @ The Ryan Center
4/13/12 – Babson Park, MA Private Location
4/14/12 – Waterville, ME Colby College @ Wadsworth Arena
4/15/12 – Amherst, MA Private Location
4/17/12 – Champaign, IL University Of Illinois @ Assembly Hall Theatre
4/18/12 – Dekalb, IL Northern Illinois University @ Convocation Center
4/19/12 – Lexington, KY University Of Kentucky @ Memorial Coliseum
4/20/12 – Johnstown, PA University Of Pittsburgh Johnstown @ Sports Center
4/21/12 – Greensboro, NC UNC Greensboro & North Carolina A&T @ White Oak Amphitheatre
4/23/12 – Springfield, MO Drury University @ O’Reilly Center
4/24/12 – Cedar Falls, IA University Of Northern Iowa @ McLeod Center
4/26/12 – Bloomsburg, PA Bloomsburg College @ Nelson
4/27/12 – Morgantown, WV West Virginia University @ WVU Coliseum
4/28/12 – Philadelphia, PA Temple University @ The Liacouras Center
4/29/12 – TBA
5/3/12 – Durham, NH University Of New Hampshire @ Whitmore Center Arena
5/4/12 – South Orange, NJ Private Location

Up-and-coming West Coast MC Kendrick Lamar, treated fans at his sold-out show in Hollywood’s Key Club last night (February 10) to a seemingly endless series of surprise guest appearances, including hometown legend Dr. Dre.

Dre went on record this past November to co-sign the Compton spitter and has since invited him into the studio to contribute to the highly-anticipated Detox album.

Kendrick, who was accompanied intermittently on stage by his Black Hippy crew members—Jay Rock, Ab Soul and Schoolboy Q— was also joined by Leimert Park’s own Dom Kennedy and underground king Murs for the “She Needs Me” remix.

XXL Class of 2010 Freshmen Big Sean and J. Cole who, earlier in the evening, wrapped a performance across town at California State University Los Angeles, made it to the venue in time to perform their respective hits “Meant to Be” and “Enchanted.” After their performances, Sean made sure to verbally crown Kendrick as the future of hip-hop as did J. Cole, who has a joint mixtape coming out with the rapper.

“Congrats… and applause to ya’ll, because ya’ll see the future early,” J. Cole told the audience. “Straight outta Compton.”

The artist formerly known as KDot also brought out fellow Compton MC, Problem while Skeme and Casey Veggies, two artists out of Inglewood who are rising to notoriety as well, were also on hand to show support.

Between songs, Kendrick, with assistance from Schoolboy Q, took a few moments to attempt to mellow out the crowd with his “Groove Sessions.” He brought out a chair and told the audience stories of what his life was like as a young child surrounded by a lot of soulful music and ruthless characters, a la the opening scenes of Menace II Society. The audience laughed at Lamar’s imitation of his father’s old school, slow winding dance moves and ignorantly wise advice. However, the show was so high energy that even the groove sessions weren’t enough to quell the crowd.

Favorites amongst audience members appeared to be “Cut You Off,” “H.O.C.,” and of course, “Michael Jordan” to which the entire Top Dawg Entertainment family (and friends) joined Kendrick on the stage which at this point was wavering, not only under their collective weight but the sheer gravity of the moment.

“On some real shit DJ Quik, Murs, J. Cole, Big Sean… This shit is overwhelming for me man,” said Kendrick after making sure to point out Quik to his father who was seated on the floor above. Quik had been standing side stage in a VIP section with a digital recording device in hand, filming throughout the entire show.

Dr. Dre came on the stage briefly to close out the night by leaving the audience with a few words: “What the fuck is up West Coast? I just came out this way to show some love for the new West Coast hotness, my nigga Kendrick Lamar doing big shit. That’s all I wanted to do was come out, show my face, and represent. I love ya’ll. My shit coming. Detox. West coast stand the fuck up."

“I never could figure out how to approach the record. It almost sounded crazy for me to say ‘Bun B For President,’” Bun B told VIBE recently of the leak. “It was an incredible song. I really loved the track, which J. Cole produced as well. I originally talked to him about a beat and he was like, ‘Oh I got music all day. Would you mind if I sent you something with a verse on it.’ I’m like, ‘I wasn’t even gon’ go there but by all means…’ And when he sent it, all we did all day was sit around and listen to that song, like, ‘Do you hear this? What do you do to this? I don’t even know what to do to this.’ So it was just something that we had to put to the side.”

“That’s one of the few songs that I wasn’t able to just attack. I hated that I couldn’t figure out how to do it,” says Bun, adding that he didn’t leak the record himself. “That shows how ahead of the game [Cole] is. Most of the songs I hear, people will tell you I jumped in on it. That one I took my time with and I was like, ‘You know what, we’re gonna wait on this record. We’re gonna sit on it until I know exactly how to present it.”

And now the good news. Bun says he plans to record his verse(s) on the leaked track:

“Now that it’s out there, I kinda feel like I have to do something,” says the Houston rapper. “So don’t be surprised if you here something on it in the next couple days. I got a better understanding now how to approach it than I did when I got it, now when I see how the public reacted to it. ’Cause I didn’t want to come off too cocky, like, ‘I’m the shit.’”

Charles Hamilton recently made a blog post in which he claimed that J. Cole and himself are the two greatest rappers of the 21st century. Read his complete announcement below:

“So I am announcing my exit from All City Chess Club. I’ll work with J. Cole, because me and him are the 2 greatest rappers in the 21st Century. Lupe, you wanna do a track, you holla at me via Facebook or sumn. I’m sure Dino Rhymestyle got it for you Ash is cool, BoB and I worked together, Diggy has stage presence, but Wale hasn’t addressed his beef with me to me yet, and Blu did some sucka ass sh1t on the phone just now when I tried to address him being cool and in the same group.

Hence the lack of collabos now. I’ll work with devoted musicians, young and young at heart. Not egomaniacs and crybabies. And I have to WANT to work with you.

This is Equilibrium Overstudies, I am Professor Francis, and CHU is still looking for students.

You don’t have to be a musician to study your equilibrium as you study who studies your equilibrium.”

~~Charles Hamilton~~

Spotted at All City Chess Club

“J. Cole is in New York most of the time,” 9th Wonder explained to SOHH. “I don’t be there. I live here [in North Carolina] But he’s moving and doing his thing so it’s kind of hard for us to get together. It’s kinda hard when it comes to scheduling and it’s not a situation of us not wanting to work together, I think it’s more of a situation of he’s there while I’m here. I don’t think it’s a situation at all of us not wanting to work together, that’s crazy. You’re dealing with two entities with him over there doing his thing. He’s moving and doing well and he’s one of the most gifted emcees that’s out right now in the game and it’s more of a situation dealing with scheduling. It’s not a matter of me not wanting to get up, that’s something else. That’s not the case at all. There’s a lot of artists I want to hear myself with. But you know, you have managers involved, everybody wants to be an A&R, but sometimes they gotta let the artists come in there and do their work. And that’d be it.”