Since the only thing to say about the new, revamped version of Dr. Dre’s Detox single “Under Pressure” is that it’s still not very good, Right-Click opts to focus its attention today on J. Cole. Who? A quick background check: The 25-year-old rapper’s been buzzing for a minute thanks to last year’s stellar mixtape The Warm Up and a Jay-Z co-sign (he’s the only visible artist signed to Jay’s Roc Nation imprint; there are others, technically, but Jay apparently doesn’t have time in between attending wine tastings with Mayor Bloomberg and test-driving new Maybach models to pay them much attention). Now, while there’s no debut album to plug just yet, it looks like the promotional push is revving up: Just last week Cole did an industry showcase type gig at his boss’s 40/40 Club, and yesterday the tricky one-shot video for his single “Who Dat” was released. Around this time last year Drake was a fresh face on the charts, but now he’s (take your pick: nauseatingly/triumphantly) ubiquitous, and it feels like rap fans are maybe looking for a new ascendant emcee to obsess over. Cole happens to share more than a few of Drake’s credentials — a hit mixtape, instant heavy-hitter approval, an unorthodox-for–hip-hop background (Cole attended St. John’s on an academic scholarship). So is he up next?
