A funny thing about streaming: It’s very hard to stream certain projects from certain artists, particularly from early in those artists’ careers. While anything from politics to rights issues can keep fan-favorite mixtapes and curios off DSPs for interminable periods, J. Cole fans woke up to a treat today; his 2007 debut mixtape, The Come Up, Vol. 1, is finally available to stream, nearly 17 years after its release. While it’s five songs shorter due to Cole’s inability to clear every instrumental from the original 21-track collection, the fact that he produced 12 of those songs himself likely helped.
The timing of the release is fortuitous, although some might call it convenient. After alienating some fans with his “7 Minute Drill” pump fake earlier this year, Cole’s been working overtime to get back in their good graces. Deleting the ill-advised battle rap track from streamers may not have earned him many fans, but his recent moves seem geared toward shoring up the remaining support he has from his hardliners. After sharing “Port Antonio,” which addresses his reasons for removing “7 Minute Drill” from DSPs, he announced a podcast, Inevitable, a collection of conversations between Cole and his longtime business partners Ibrahim Hamad and Scott Lazer detailing his creative process.
You can officially listen to The Come Up, Vol. 1 on your favorite DSPs, including Apple, Spotify, and Tidal.