J. Cole Calls Born Sinner Release Date 'A Bad Move'

J. Cole is so excited about Born Sinner that his original plan was to release the sophomore LP to coincide with his birthday on January 28, even though he didn't have a single in place yet. The date came and went without a drop, but Cole's excitement is still building.

"They were cool with it, like 'Whatever you wanna do'," Cole said of the label reaction at Roc Nation and Columbia when he initially announced that he was going to drop his album at the top of 2013.

"Really that was a bad move. We decided that we got everybody playing on the same team and the same frequency. This is the sophomore album let's not f--- around," the Fayetteville, North Carolina, MC told during a sit-down on February 16 in Houston. "Let's really roll this out right, get the proper single, get the proper videos, proper brands. There are certain things that you can line up to make an album feel bigger."

Cole hasn't exactly given a new release date for the LP, but during a Los Angeles radio interview with Power 106's Rikki Martinez he said fans can expect the album around Tupac's birthday on June 16 to celebrate his favorite rapper.

Whenever it comes, Jermaine tells MTV News that this time around he and his label are working in complete harmony, even more than they did when he dropped his gold-selling debut Cole World: The Sideline Story in 2011. "On this one we're getting full label support," he gushed. "We got a sync about us this go 'round that was not there on the first one, and it's a beautiful thing."

On February 14, Cole dropped "Power Trip," Born Sinner's first official single. The track features complimentary vocals from Miguel and a hard-hitting hip-hop track, which Cole produced himself. "I get excited about that; it's an opportunity to change things," he said of how the record stands out sonically against anything that is one hip-hop radio today.

"Power Trip" reminds J. Cole of Timberlake's "Cry Me A River."

When it comes to the rest of Born Sinner's selections, the rapper remains tight-lipped. "I'm one album in, going on my second album and a couple of mixtapes in and I'm still not used to this part — talking about it before it drops," he said in defense of his stingy distribution of album details. "I don't want to go so deep. I just want to say that it is definitely next level J. Cole. It sounds new."

What are you expecting from J. Cole's Born Sinner LP? Let us know in the comments!