On Monday, J.Cole released Applying Pressure, a brief documentary chronicling the steps he took to make his new album, The Off-Season. The project is set to drop on Thursday, May 14th. Stream the full 12-minute documentary below.

The documentary begins with 21 Savage simply asking Cole about the project’s title. Cole then tells the story of his thought process of creating his second mixtape, The Warm-Up.

“At that time, I was trying to get a deal,” he explained. “I felt like I was this close to getting a deal with somebody just because my music was good, and I had a little bit of connections in the industry…I was being complacent, because I had crazy music…I was chilling, as if that was good enough to get me to where I needed to go.”

Cole described an intervention from his friends at a party that, in his opinion, set him on the path to success. At the time, he was struggling to pay rent while pursuing music.

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