Truly Yours and Truly Yours 2 are the first and second extended plays by American hip hop artist J. Cole. They were released digitally for free download and stream on February 12 and April 30 of 2013. The series consists of songs that Cole knew would not make the cutlist for his second studio albumBorn Sinner. Truly Yours 2 features guest appearances from Young Jeezy, 2 Chainz and Bas. The free EP was released as a trilogy, with the third being released as the deluxe edition of Born Sinner.[1] Both projects have over 500,000 downloads on mixtape site DatPiff.[2]
Critical reception
HipHopDX's Omar Burgess praised Truly Yours saying, "Born Sinner will be the ultimate test of Cole’s desire to grow and experiment as he pointed out in the letter that accompanied Truly Yours. This short set indicates he’s taking steps in the right direction, and his next full-length effort will hopefully appease his old and newer fans."[3] Burgess also praised Truly Yours 2 saying, "both casual fans and Cole stans alike can package these six songs with the first Truly Yours and have something that competes with a lot of albums in the marketplace."[4]
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."[5]
"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.[8]
"Cousins" was also featured on Bas' mixtape, "Quarter Water Raised Me Vol. II".[9]
Sample credits
"Can I Holla At Ya" interpolates and contains samples of "To Zion" by Lauryn Hill.[10]
"Crunch Time" contains samples of "Muchies for Your Love" by Bootsy Collins.[11]
