Update: J. Cole Pushes Forward 'Born Sinner' Release Date to June 18

Now this is something you don’t see everyday – a rapper pushing forward the release date for their album. J. Cole‘s tweets below answer the ‘when?’ and ‘why?’ part to his reasoning behind advancing his Born Sinner LP from its original June 25 date, to June 18. If the date seems familiar to you, that’s because it’s also the same date as Kanye West’s highly-anticipated Yeezus release. Now this competition won’t be as hyped as the 50 Cent/Kanye West showdown from back in 2007, but it’s human nature for people to compare things to each other especially when they come out at the same time. We’ll have to wait and see who the people choose when Yeezus and Born Sinner release. Given all of these biblical references, will David/Goliath be added to them on June 18?

Kanye West is one of the greatest artists of our generation.

— J. Cole (@JColeNC) May 20, 2013

 

Which is exactly why I’m moving my release date up.

— J. Cole (@JColeNC) May 20, 2013

 

Born Sinner June 18th

— J. Cole (@JColeNC) May 20, 2013

As a side note, we previously shared the cover art for the deluxe edition of Born Sinner, and up above you can view artwork for the standard copies.

UPDATE: It looks like J. Cole recently had an interview with The Juice, where he discussed moving his album date up, and here’s what he had to say:

Instantly the lightbulb [turned on]… it got real. I made one phone call to somebody that would know, just to make sure first. As soon as I got it confirmed, I was like, ‘Yo…’ The idea hit me instantly: ‘You got to go to that date.

I’m not going to sit [here]… I worked too hard to come a week later after Kanye West drops an amazing album. It’d be like, ‘Oh and J.Cole dropped too, a week later.’ Nah. I’m going to go see him on that date. He’s the greatest. So it’s like, I’m a competitor by nature so it was instant, it wasn’t even a thought.

At the same time, let’s not forget this is Kanye West. He bets 100, 1,000, whatever the perfect is. His track record is flawless. I’m only expecting an incredible album from him. But I know what I have.