J. Cole – Photo: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images
Almost 15 years after its initial release, J. Cole has announced that his widely-acclaimed mixtape Friday Night Lights is now available on all streaming platforms. The re-release is in conjunction with the fifth episode of his audio podcast series Inevitable, which explores the making of the mixtape.
Cole announced the news on X (formerly Twitter) with the message: “This is a very special moment for me. Been waiting patiently for this day, like a lot of y’all 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 released on November 12, 2010, the songs on the mixtape were supposed to be on the North Carolina rapper’s debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story. Because his label did not believe the project was commercially viable Cole released the songs along with extra freestyles as a mixtape. Eventually, he had to redo his entire project. The only track to make the cut was “In The Morning” featuring Drake.
Cole produced most of the mixtape along with contributions from Bink, Kanye West, L&X Music, Syience, and Elite and Omen. All of the original songs are in the new release on streaming platforms except “Looking for Trouble” which was a bonus track.
Friday Night Lights went on to win the ‘Best Mixtape Of The Year’ prize at the 2011 BET Hip-Hop Awards. It also received widespread acclaim from critics. All Hip-Hop gave the mixtape a rare classic rating of 10/10 saying, “Friday Night Lights is a mixtape with very few blemishes and faults. Cole nicely knits together a very interesting precursor to his upcoming album Cole World and it holds its own as one of the most complete mixtapes of the year.”
Listen to Friday Night Lights on Apple Music and Spotify.