J. Cole is confident that his sophomore album will inspire listeners.
The rapper is preparing to release Born Sinner in January.
J. Cole's creativity was unrestrained while composing tracks for this record.
The musician believes that a feeling of liberty is pervasive throughout his new works.
"I don't think it's gonna be hard to top my first album [2011's Cole World: The Sideline Story]. I don't think that's gonna be tough. I think I got that," he told MTV News.
"Freedom, just [having] no pressure. As soon as my first album dropped, all of this weight was off me and everything was flowing out and that lasted a long time, months and months. So just the freedom of not having to please the label, the machine, that was very inspiring."
J. Cole's maturation as an artist is evident in his new songs.
"It definitely sounds like growth, [just] bigger and not in a corny way, not in a trying way," he explained.
"It's weird because I have these songs that are bigger and then I have these songs that are just as underground as some of my old stuff, it's like always playing these two worlds."