J. Cole has released the video for “Power Trip,” the first single from his forthcoming album Born Sinner. The video features Miguel and has a morbid twist at the end. But while the clip is dark and gloomy, Cole explained how the song came from a bright place.
“I started humming the melodies and I wrote the words,” J. Cole told Hot93.7/Hartford. “I wanted to do it [sing it]. Nobody heard me do that.”
When Cole’s manager Mark Pitts recommended Miguel for the track, the rapper was still on the fence about singing the chorus.
“I kinda like how I sound doing it,” he said. “My fans and people have never heard me like that. I played it for Jay-Z and the first thing he said–even before he said it was crazy– was ‘You gotta get Miguel on that.'”
The “Power Trip” video finds the rapper picking up where his record “Dreams” from The Warmup mixtape left off, fantasizing about killing the boyfriend of a woman with whom he is infatuated. Miguel, who plays the in-the-way love interest adds the polish to the track. [Check out the video here]
Along with the song, Drake said his sophomore album will have a major impact on the music landscape, with plans of forcing the GRAMMYs to recognize rap in a major way.
“Drake won rap album of the year and they didn’t even televise it,” he said. “Rappers never win Album of the Year. Even Kanye West, if any rapper deserved it in the past ten years it was Kanye west for Graduation.”
To be sure, Outkast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below took home Album of the Year GRAMMY in 2004 and Lauryn Hill (who mostly sings on her debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill) won top album honors in 1999. While Kanye’s Graduation won Best Rap Album in 2008, he lost to Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters for Album of the Year.
Cole said he his Born Sinner album will break through the business as usual. When asked if he expects a GRAMMY nod, he said he sees beyond the rap category.
“I’m going for Album of the Year; I’m trying to compete with the white people, man,” said Cole, who is biracial with a white mother.
Cole recently announced the release date for his long-delayed Born Sinner, which is now due June 25, 2013.
[Listen to his full interview here]
