TDE president Dave Free recently sat down with MTV News and shared some of the label's plans for the year. Free also addressed the possibility of a Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole album.
While talking with the outlet, Free, who was recently featured on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list, revealed that the label has albums from ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Isaiah Rashad and SZA lined up for release this year.
"A lot of artists didn’t come out in 2015,” Free said. “By the time we come back around on this next go? Oh my goodness. It’s gonna crazy. We’re gonna have everybody hittin’. That’s what’s gonna be sick. That’s what’s gonna be fun. That’s what I’m excited about."
As far as a collaborative album between Lamar and Cole, fans may have to hold out a little while longer if a project actually comes to fruition.
"Anything’s a possibility,” Free said of the project. “Everything’s a possibility, but Ima say this, too, Kendrick and Cole are in a place in their careers and in their lives where they have to keep going. Of course they’re two of the biggest rappers out, but they still have to keep grinding. There’s so much work that they have to continue to do. A joint album does sound great, but people need to understand, these are two geniuses. These are two creative guys. It takes a long time for one of them to get in a space to create a song, so to get two of them in a space to do that, it takes a lot of time and energy. It all has to be a singular project, but it just can’t happen overnight."
The day after Thanksgiving, the two rappers decided to flip each other's beats with Lamar rapping over Cole’s “A Tale of 2 Citiez” off 2014 Forest Hills Drive and Cole taking on K. Dot’s “Alright” off To Pimp a Butterfly. Each tweeted a link to a song from the other.
There have been talks of Lamar and Cole working together for quite sometime now. Last September, a Twitter account listed under @BestOfJCole sent out a tweet with the presumed artwork from the joint project dubbed as Reminiscing. During a TPAB promo run early in 2015, Lamar made it known that he would like to work on a joint album with Cole.
Let’s hope they can make it happen. Check back with us for more updates.
