4 years ago, J. Cole released Power Trip as the lead single for his then upcoming album Born Sinner. Cole wrote and produced the song himself, taking the sample from Hubert Laws’ song No More. It was the 2nd collaboration with singer Miguel, who he had previously released All I Want Is You with. The song was praised highly, with XXL rating it as one of the album’s strongest tracks, along with Crooked Smile and Let Nas Down.
In this video, Cole breaks down the production process of Power Trip and shows us how he made the song that would go on to sell upwards of 1,000,000 in the US, making it a Platinum record.
Following the release of the album, Born Sinner, too, went on to become certified Platinum by the RIAA, and as of December 2016, has sold 796,000 copies domestically. Since then, Cole has released 2014 Forest Hills Drive and 4 Your Eyez Only – with the first album debuting at number one on the Billboard200 upon release, selling 353,000 copies in its first week, and all 10 songs from 4 Your Eyez Only debuting in the top 40 of the Hot 100.
Along with his albums, Cole also released a documentary titled Forest Hills Drive: Homecoming, which you can check out below:
