Lights Please

Cole told the story at a pre-release listening Session for his debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story, how this joint scored him his Roc Nation deal and garnered interest from manager Mark Pitts, CEO of Bystorm Entertainment. The Fayetteville, North Carolina, rapper originally recorded the tune for his second mixtape, 2009's The Warm Up and it caught the attention of Pitts, when he was on his way out of the office. "It's like I smelled some food," he recalled Pitts saying when his assistant, Kirk Lightburn, played the song.

Soon afterwards Jay-Z got to hear the track and quickly signed him to Roc Nation. Seconds after Cole received the good news that Jay had brought him on board via text message, the exhilarated spitter was bought back to earth when he was pulled over by a cop and arrested.

Shot in August 2008, the BB Gunn directed-video details Cole's struggle with the deeper issues he has with his girl. The clip was set to be part of a trilogy along with "Lost Ones" and "Simba" that told one linear story but things didn't work out that way and it was only released in 2014. "We been holding on to it for way too long," Cole told MTV's Sway Calloway on RapFix.