According to Genius, it states that , "The Warm Up is J. Cole's second mixtape and the leading factor in him being signed to Roc Nation, which significantly is home to Lights Please , the song that convinced Jay-Z to sign him. It is also the first basketball themed projects in his early discography".
Moreover, Genius states that, "Cole named the project The Warm Up because he's practising even harder than he did in his debut mixtape, The Come Up to make sure that when he tries out for the team again, he'll be the top pick, as he explained in an interview with Complex:
'It's based on this story from when I was in high school and I got cut from the team. A lot of people get cut from the team, but it's really about how people handle the shit. Some people quit. They get spiteful, say fuck the coach and they won't try out no more , some people will just go harder and use it for motivation to make sure that next year it's undeniable'.
Cole first met Jay Z in front of his studio and had a beat CD to give to him. Eventually, he arrives at the studio and Cole introduces himself and attempts to give him the CD, but was overlooked by him harshly. With the release of this mixtape, it was then shared to Jay-Z by a close worker, to which you then listened to the sixth track Lights Please and decided to meet him ".
From my point of view, there are important points to consider. Since it is the first basketball themed projects in his early discography, it explains why on the album cover, he is holding a basketball. It symbolises Cole working harder to be one of the best rappers in the rap game. This is why Cole gave an example of him working hard to be part the basketball team.In this case, basketball team represents the rap game.
Moreover, one of the songs, Lights Please is one of the reasons why Cole was signed to Jay-Z record label, Roc Nation. This proves that his persistence to improve his skills in the rap game has paid off because even though he was rejected, he did not give up. This is why The Warm Up is the follow up of the mixtape, The Come Up because on the first mixtape Cole has stated that he left his home to chase his dream of becoming a rapper and now The Warm Up marks the beginning of Cole succeeding in the rap game.
The Track List:
1. Intro (The Warm Up)
2. Welcome
3. Can I Live
4. Grown Simba
5. Just to Get By
6. Lights Please
7. Dead Presidents II
8. I Get Up
9. World is Empty
10. Dreams feat. Brandon Hines
11. Royal Flush
12. Dolla and a Dream II
13. Water Break (Interlude)
14. Heartache
15. Get Away
16. Knock Knock
17. Ladies feat. Lee Fields and The Expressions
18. Til' Infinity
19. The Badness feat. Omen
20. Hold It Down
21. Last Call
22. Losing My Balance
According to a music review about The Warm Up by DustinWindex on sputnikmusic, it states that, "The album presents itself as 22 track barrage of lyrical emotion that leaves you hungry for more".
From my point of view, this proves that on this mixtape, J. Cole was working even harder than on his other mixtape The Come Up where he was chasing his dream of becoming a rapper. The Warm Up shows Cole finally gaining recognition in the rap game hence why it is the follow up of his first mixtape, The Come Up.
Cole does not forget about his roots despite the fame he's got. As stated by DustinWindex, "Cole conveys to the rap scene that you can still break it big without forgetting your roots or distilling your message ". This is similar to The Come Up where songs like Throw It Up shows Cole is not forgetting his roots. On that song, Cole boasts about his street origins and reflects on his come up in the rap game. This was stated by Genius hence why The Warm Up is the follow up of the mixtape The Come Up.
The second mixtape, The Warm Up seems to be old school. As stated by DustinWindex, "The Warm Up revolves around a very old school feel. Cole brings strong lyricism accompanied by delicate samplings and beats ....".
From my point of view, this proves that The Warm Up is the follow up of the mixtape The Come Up. Both of these mixtapes have strong lyricism with samplings and beats where Cole is making his mark in the rap game.
Some of the songs in the tracklist also provides evidence that The Warm Up is the follow up of the mixtape The Come Up.
On the track Intro, Cole gives his perspective on life. According to Genius, it states that, "On Intro North Carolina rapper J. Cole prepares his audience for his second official mixtape The Warm Up. On the track, Cole speaks about his prerogative on line and shares his perspective on life". This is shown on the lyrics below :
"....That's human nature I suppose, second guessing
When life seems to take you through more downs than ups
Seems like it gives you more losses than wins
But do you stand tall and be bold
Or do you fold?
Do you believe?
See, me, I came a long way
Way too far for me to stop now
Not that I would stop anyways, but
I'm so close, I can feel it
Can you feel it?
Warm Up"
From my point of view, there is a reason why The Warm Up is the follow up of the mixtape The Come Up. From the lyrics above, it shows that no matter what the challenges Cole had faced, he never gave up. Just like on the track Intro which is found on the mixtape, The Come Up, he decided to chase his dream of becoming a successful rapper. The Warm Up reveals Cole finally gaining recognition in the rap game to the extent he got signed to the label,Roc Nation.
The song Grown Simba shows the rise of Cole in the rap game. According to Genius, it states that, " The fourth track of 2009's The Warm Up serves as a now-prophetic story of ambition and hunger Cole possessed coming into the rap game. Sprinkled with handfuls of clever homonymic wordplay and a vicious rhyme scheme for a closing verse, Cole tells the abrupt story of him transcending into the fast life of a celebrity". This is shown on the lyrics below:
"...I was like a young Simba; couldn't wait to be the king
Now a nigga is the prince
Hopped over the fence where the grass way greener..."
From my point of view, this proves that The Warm Up is the follow up of the mixtape The Come Up. On the track Grown Simba, Cole is using this as a metaphor to show that he is finally a signed artist. Remember on the track Simba, Cole was expressing his dream of becoming a signed artist and since The Warm Up helped Cole to get signed to Jay -Z' label , Roc Nation, it is clear why Cole is "Grown Simba". He is now a signed artist.
There is one song on the mixtape, The Warm Up that helped Cole to become a signed artist. The song is called, Lights Please. According to Genius, it states that, "The song is what led to Cole being the first rapper signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation label. Via HipHopDX :
'That's the song that got me so many meetings in the industry. It got me my meeting with Mark Pitts. Mark Pitts played it for Jay-Z. Jay-Z heard that song and that's the reason why he even wanted to see me was from hearing Lights Please' ".
The lyrics below shows the reason why he got signed to the label, Roc Nation in the first place :
[Outro]
"Alright, if y'all niggas heard the first one, The Come Up and shit, then you would have heard part 1 of this joint right here. It's "Dead Presidents", you know classic nigga, that's classic Jay shit. So I did it, threw it on the first mixtape, this is about a year ago. We let niggas hear like you know the mixtape whatever, and there was always this one nigga that stuck out to me like a year ago. This nigga's like "yo". like I thought I did my thing on this shit, that was like two of my favorite verses that I did, but he was just like "Yo", like, "Yo you didn't come right man. If you gon' come on Dead Presidents son, you gotta come, hard son, you gotta come harder than that son, you gotta come harder than that." I was like, man what you mean I came hard? But, that shit always stuck in my mind, so doing this next, you know, doing this The Warm Up I was like, damn, I gotta get on it again, I gotta do it again. Just almost like, just to prove to that nigga and kinda prove to myself that you I can, I can maybe get a little..."
From my point of view, I believe the reason why he got signed in the first place is because he was improving his lyric craft in terms of the song Dead Presidents. The song is a classic by Jay Z. So it probably showed that J. Cole is serious about being a successful rapper and is willing to improve no matter what. Moreover, J. Cole deciding go harder on the track Dead Presidents shows persistence in Jay-Z's eyes hence why he gave Cole a chance. Though Cole was rejected at first, he still went on to perfect his craft in terms of his rap music. This is why The Warm Up is the follow up of the mixtape The Come Up. Cole chased his dream of becoming a signed artist until he got it. Moreover, since Cole decided to re-do the song Dead Presidents on the mixtape The Warm Up, it means that he first rap about the track Dead Presidents on his first mixtape, The Come Up.
The song I Get Up is a message of inspiration. According to Genius, it states that, "Inspirational song by J. Cole talking about the struggles in life and how everyone is doing something to get by ". This is shown on the lyrics below:
[Hook]
"I get up, I see the clouds from my window
I pray the sun gon' shine this way
And where I go as the wind blow
Momma, your son gon' find his way
And if I gotta crawl, I'ma make to the end though
And to the top I'ma climb my way
And tell 'em I'ma rise, I'm on my—headed for the sky
I'm on my way"
From my point of view, this is similar to the song Get It on the mixtape, The Come Up where it was about uplifting others to be the best they can be hence a song of inspiration. This is why The Warm Up is the follow up of the mixtape The Come Up. Cole did not give up on chasing his dreams.
The song Dolla and A Dream II shows Cole's hope and dreams. According to Genius,it states that, "This song explores Cole's hope and dreams as a young man fresh out of college with student debt to pay off". This is shown on the lyrics below :
[Verse 1]
"Ayy, ayy, I got a dollar and a dream, real niggas on my team
Everything ain't what it seems (Uh)
Niggas hating but I love them even though they trying to scheme..."
From my point of view, this shows the challenges Cole faced in life which was probably people taking advantage because of his fame. Moreover, there is a reason why this shows that The Warm Up is the follow up of the mixtape The Come Up. There is a song called Dolla and A Dream which is found on the mixtape The Come Up. Therefore it's a follow up to the song Dolla and A Dream II found on the mixtape, The Warm Up.
The song Badness shows the reason why The Warm Up is the follow up of the mixtape The Come Up. It features one of the Dreamville artists, Omen. Remember the track, Intro found on the mixtape, The Come Up, Cole has mentioned about Dreamville Records. So probably on the mixtape, The Warm Up, Cole had already started searching for artists for his record label, Dreamville Records.
Out of all the songs on the track list, Last Call is the most important. Cole explains how he dropped both of the mixtapes, The Come Up and The Warm Up. This proves that The Warm Up is the follow up of the mixtape The Come Up.
Cole's explanation concerning The Come Up:
[Outro]
"Yeah man so shit, this was The Warm Up
Um, what can I say, what can I say?
If you heard The Come Up that was about just a lil nigga from North Carolina man
Fayettnam to be exact
Moved to NYC, chasing the dream
I used college, if y'all niggas don't know, I used college as a tool to get to New York
I ain't have no family up here or nothing like that, I came up here on a scholarship, nigga went to college
And the whole time I ain't even think I would have to finish college, I just thought I'd be signed by my freshman year so I wouldn't have to finish college
But it didn't happen like that obviously, a nigga graduated and things started falling into place
I got more focused, I dropped The Come Up"
Cole's explanation concerning The Warm Up:
"So shit fast forward to The Warm Up, this just me, like you know, me being that nigga that's practicing and making sure it's no way, it's undeniable that when I go to tryouts, there's no fucking way the coach is passing up on me, my nigga
So that's what this whole mixtape was about and lo and behold, you know
As I'm finishing the mixtape, the deal comes
Thank God, I'm blessed."
The Warm Up is the follow up of the mixtape The Come Up because of various reasons. Since The Come Up is the first mixtape by J. Cole, there were some changes as time went on because Cole wanted to improve as an artist. This is why on the second mixtape, The Warm Up ,Cole has used the metaphor of being part of a basketball team as a way of saying he has risen in the rap game. This is why he was signed to Jay-Z record label, Roc Nation. Therefore The Come Up was about Cole chasing his dream of becoming a signed artist and then The Warm Up shows Cole finally becoming a signed artist because of his song Lights Please.
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