J. Cole has officially released his third-ever mixtape Friday Night Lights on streaming services. The news comes 14 years after it was originally released on November 12, 2010. While it was his third mixtape, Friday Night Lights was widely considered to be his first commercial mixtape following the previous two titled The Come Up and The Warm Up. Just a couple of weeks ago, J. Cole also dropped The Come Up mixtape on streaming services, 17 years after its initial release.
Friday Night Lights marked J. Cole’s final mixtape before releasing the 2011 album Cole World: The Sideline Story which saw features from big names like Drake, Ye, Pusha T, Big Sean and more. In his newly released limited audio series Inevitable, J. Cole explained to his fans exactly what the mixtape meant to him. He even dove into the creation of Friday Night Lights on the audio series.
Taking to X, he posted about the release on streaming, “This is a very special moment for me. Been waiting patiently for this day, like a lot of yall have. I wanna say Thank you to everybody out there that kept these projects alive, even during all the years they were not on streaming services, especially this project right here. Friday Nights Lights finally available now on all platforms.” Originally, the songs on Friday Night Lights were intended for his debut LP, however because his label did not believe in the album at the time, J. Cole released the songs and additional freestyle as a mixtape. Friday Night Lights later earned the title of Mixtape of the Year at the 2011 BET Hip-Hop awards. His long-time collaborator Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad also took to X to share the moment.
This is a very special moment for me. Been waiting patiently for this day, like a lot of yall have. I wanna say Thank you to everybody out there that kept these projects alive, even during all the years they were not on streaming services, especially this project right here.… pic.twitter.com/u1DsjcZDSH
— J. Cole (@JColeNC) November 28, 2024
Na no lie this FNL listen right now making me emotional. This shit really changed niggaz lives forever. This time we gon enjoy this moment 🙏🏿
— Ibrahim H. (@KingOfQueenz) November 28, 2024
Yall don’t understand how much it hurt taking a lot of these songs and warm up songs off the first album but now that FNL and TWU is on streaming I feel a little better 😂. Gon enjoy this moment.
— Ibrahim H. (@KingOfQueenz) November 28, 2024
