J Cole New Album 2013: ‘Born Sinner’ Release Date June 18, ‘Power Trip’ Singer Talks Second Album Creative Process, Kanye West Competition

By Andrew Meola | May 30, 2013 02:47 PM EDT

J Cole will release his second album, Born Sinner, on June 18 and the "Power Trip" singer recently spoke to Fuse about what makes this album different, competing with Kanye West and more.

The 28-year-old released his first album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, in 2011, but he said this album had a different feeling as he created it.

"This is the first time I've felt like I was working on an album. The first one felt like I was piecing together things...Now on this album, I started with nothing," Cole said. "I had songs, but I wasn't relying on those. It was like, 'Let's start with nothing.' I literally started from scratch and the next thing you know, I've got nine songs, ten songs. It was just a more organic feeling."

Cole also said he physically wrote his songs with a pen as opposed to typing them, which he said was more comfortable and intimate.

View the whole video interview here.

The upcoming album features collaboration with TLC.

Cole actually moved up the release date of the album to coincide with the release of Kanye West's Yeezus. He explained his logic to Billboard:

"Instantly the light bulb [turned on]...It got real. I made one phone call to somebody that would know, just to make sure first. As soon as I got it confirmed, I was like, 'Yo...' The idea hit me instantly: 'You got to go to that date.'

I'm not going to sit [here]... I worked too hard to come a week later after Kanye West drops an amazing album. It'd be like, 'Oh and J.Cole dropped too, a week later.' Nah. I'm going to go see him on that date. He's the greatest. So it's like, I'm a competitor by nature so it was instant. It wasn't even a thought."

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