On June 15, 2009, J. Cole dropped his breakout mixtape, The Warm Up. Though it wasn’t his first mixtape, The Warm Up kicked off the rapper’s meteoric rise to fame and acclaim.
10 years ago @JColeNC dropped The Warm Up. Crazy to see where he is now and I feel blessed that I get to be apart of that. 10 years ain’t a given in this game especially at Cole level but special people do special shit. Here’s to 10 more for my brother (if he even wants 10 more) pic.twitter.com/e5rfn5eicJ
— Ibrahim H. (@KingOfQueenz) June 15, 2019
Cole’s manager, Ibrahim “IB” Hamad, posted a thread of tweets on Saturday to celebrate the mixtape’s anniversary. In addition to your standard “thank you, fans” tweets, IB shared for the first time the story behind the mixtape’s iconic cover art.
Since we talking The Warm Up, this cover was legendary. We were suppose to shoot in my HS gym and it was snowing mad hard so my coach ain’t even show up to open the gym for us, Coach Lloyd left us out there in the snow 😂. So we shot that shit right outside of Holy Cross HS pic.twitter.com/sUxTXsZn4v
— Ibrahim H. (@KingOfQueenz) June 15, 2019
“We were suppose to shoot in my HS gym,” IB wrote. “And it was snowing mad hard so my coach ain’t even show up to open the gym for us, Coach Lloyd left us out there in the snow ?. So we shot that sh*t right outside of Holy Cross HS.”
IB’s revelation debunks many fans’ theories that the snow on the album cover was fake. It’s very real, and Cole was very cold while taking the pics. Apparently the hoodie Cole’s wearing on the final album cover was a late addition, and for most of the photoshoot he was just standing out there freezing in a t-shirt.
Bro niggaz almost caught pneumonia out there tryna get the shot. I think we initially was shooting it and Cole was just in a tee too for the shot so that nigga almost died out there just for people to this it was fake show for 10 years 😂😂😂
— Ibrahim H. (@KingOfQueenz) June 15, 2019
😂😂😂 yo I can’t believe niggaz was out there almost catching pneumonia and shit to get the right shot, my nigga Cole out there in the freezing snow for hours just for the world to think it was fake the whole time . Bro that’s so crazy I had no idea lmao
— Ibrahim H. (@KingOfQueenz) June 15, 2019
And, to further prove that the snow wasn’t fake, IB shared some never-before-seen outtakes from the photoshoot. The Warm Up is one of the most iconic releases of the last decade or so, and it’s cool to know more about the story behind it. Cole got pretty cold shooting the album cover, but looking at where he is now, I’d say it was all worth it in the end.
1.10.2009 photo shoot for “The Warm Up”. In case y’all really thought it was photoshopped lol shout out to Chad Griffith who was the photographer for sending me these pics and @AlexHaldi for doing the cover #10YearAnniversary pic.twitter.com/yjLSmbrCI7
— Ibrahim H. (@KingOfQueenz) June 15, 2019
