J. Cole Releases ‘Friday Night Lights’ On DSPs After “Waiting Patiently” For 14 Years

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J. Cole’s critically acclaimed 2010 mixtape Friday Night Lights finally hit streaming services. The re-release coincided with the fifth episode of his “Inevitable” audio series airing on Wednesday (Nov. 27).

“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 [is] finally available now on all platforms,” he penned on Twitter.

Casual Hip Hop fans will likely recognize the LP for housing “In The Morning” with Drake. It marked the two rappers’ first time collaborating with one another. Other surefire cuts included “Too Deep for the Intro,” “You Got It” featuring Wale and “Premeditated Murder.” Additional contributions came from Dreamville signee Omen, while “Villematic” notably sampled Ye’s earlier record “Devil In A New Dress.”

Friday Night Lights’ arrival to DSPs has been a long time coming. In 2019, Cole told fans his discography on streaming didn’t “even look right” without the 2010 effort and its predecessor, The Warm Up, being available to listen to. “[I’m] workin’ on it,” he wrote via Twitter. “Decade later, and I’m still dreamin’ and tryna get better.”

With the recent launch of “Inevitable,” Cole has been taking fans down memory lane in all the right ways. His The Come Up Mixtape Vol. 1 made its way to TIDAL, Apple Music and Spotify on Nov. 18, and the North Carolina rapper even played two of his historic collaborations with Kendrick Lamar that never got an official release.

“If you rocked with me at any point so far on my journey, I hope this will give you even more perspective and fill in a lot of blanks,” Cole told fans ahead of his limited audio series’ first episode. “If you have your own dream in life that you hope to achieve, in any field, I hope that this will feed your spirit, giving you [the] confidence to believe in that dream and the encouragement to push through the tough times.”