← Back to 2009Side B · The Function
Track 02 · 2009
Lights Please
J. Cole
- conscious
- mixtape era
On the charts
From The Warm Up mixtape; Cole's breakout moment before his major label debut.
Why it mattered
J. Cole introduced himself as the thinking man's rapper. The Warm Up was the most buzzed-about mixtape of 2009, and this was its centerpiece — introspective, smooth, and undeniably skilled.