Truly Yours (EP)

Truly Yours is the first extended play by American hip hop artist J. Cole. They were released digitally for free download and stream on February 12, 2013. The EP contains production from J. Cole, No I.D., Lauryn Hill and Che Pope. The EP has been downloaded over 500,000 times on mixtape site DatPiff.^[1]

Truly Yours
EP by J. Cole
Released	February 12, 2013
Recorded	2009 2012–2013
Genre	Hip hop
Length	16:41
Label	Dreamville
Producer	J. Cole No I.D. Lauryn Hill Che Pope
J. Cole chronology
Cole World: The Sideline Story (2011) Truly Yours (2013) Truly Yours 2 (2013)

Background

The series consists of songs that Cole knew would not make the cutlist for his second studio album Born Sinner. The free EP was released as a trilogy, with the third being released as the deluxe edition of Born Sinner.^[2]

Critical reception

Writing for HotNewHipHop, Iva Anthony wrote a mostly positive review for Truly Yours, she said it "achieves exactly what J. Cole set out to do: whet the appetites of his fans and as he preps to feed the masses with Born Sinner, while simultaneously reminding everyone of his position within the rap game."^[3]

Track listing

Truly Yours^[4]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Can I Holla At Ya"	Jermaine Cole	Lauryn Hill Che Pope	4:22
2.	"Crunch Time"	Cole	J. Cole	3:34
3.	"Rise Above"	Cole	Cole	2:29
4.	"Tears for ODB"	Cole	Cole	3:53
5.	"Stay (2009)"	Cole	No I.D.	3:03
Total length:				17:21

Notes

• "Stay" was recorded in 2009. Cole revealed in an interview with MTV that the song was intended for his debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, but he never bought the beat from No I.D. Rapper Nas eventually used the beat on his 2012 release Life Is Good in a song titled by the same name.^[5]

Sample credits

• "Can I Holla At Ya" interpolates and contains samples of "To Zion" by Lauryn Hill.^[6]
• "Crunch Time" contains samples of "Munchies for Your Love" by Bootsy Collins.^[7]

References

1. "Celebrated Mixtapes @ DatPiff". DatPiff. Archived from the original on August 29, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
2. J. Cole (June 5, 2013). "Deluxe album includes Truly Yours 3". Twitter. Archived from the original on September 9, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
3. Anthony, Iva (February 18, 2013). "Review: J. Cole's "Truly Yours" EP". HotNewHipHop. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
4. Smith, Trevor (February 12, 2013). "J. Cole - Truly Yours EP [New Mixtape]". hotnewhiphop. Archived from the original on November 20, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
5. Lilah, Rose (February 22, 2013). "J. Cole Recalls Losing "Stay" To Nas & "Tears Of Joy" To Rick Ross". hotnewhiphop. Archived from the original on September 13, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
6. "J. Cole - Can I Holla At Ya Lyrics - Genius". Genius. Archived from the original on August 27, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
7. "J. Cole - Crunch Time Lyrics - Genius". Genius. Archived from the original on September 15, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2016.