Progress has always been a slow process. Just ask J. Cole. 2010 has seen Fayetteville’s own damn near double the interest and buzz around his name from a slew of guest appearances to even his own tracks leaking. Still, he’s not where he wants to be in terms of presenting a debut project to the masses. The last time Cole caught up with the folks at Good*Fella Radio, he had dreams of being the first rapper to ever lace up sneakers in the NBDL. How quickly a few months can change a perspective.

Thanks to his non-stop touring and marathon recording sessions regiment, that dream is put on halt while he focuses on achieving another. In this clip, Cole gives insight on a few topics. For one, the album is coming – we just don’t know when yet. The mixtape, however, will be arriving shortly. The “Rising Icon” explains how he just recently selected the tracks for the tape and judging by the hand gesture,the tracklist is extensive and should hold people over until the album drops in 2011. On a completely separate note though, one thing I can say about buddy is that if you ever have top secret information, Jermaine would be the one guy who would be safe to tell. We still don’t know the title of the album and he’s equally as tight lipped in regards to the mixtape’s name. But I digress.

Producing has always been a major component to Cole’s vehicle. Here, Roc Nation’s own says he desires for that aspect to one day be on the same respect level as his rhyming skills. In a sense, it could be called the “reverse-Kanye-effect.” I have to give credit to the guy because he looked exhausted, but still managed to answer the questions fully. One of the more genuine and down-to-earth artists in the game today.

Be sure to catch Cole on tour if you can. Click here to see if he’ll be invading a campus near you soon. Kudos to Hot Mop Films for the excellent camera quality, too.