"Lights Please" is a song by American rapper

J. Cole Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained recognition as a rapper following the release of his d ...

, released on June 15, 2009 from his second mixtape, ''

The Warm Up ''The Warm Up'' is the second official mixtape from Fayetteville, North Carolina rapper J. Cole. It was released on June 15, 2009. J. Cole produced the majority of the mixtape with help from Elite, and Syience. The mixtape has been viewed over 3,1 ...

''. The song was later released as a single on November 24, 2009 and appeared on his debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, '' Cole World: The Sideline Story'' (2011).

Background

"Lights Please" was the first song that was heard by his manager

Mark Pitts Mark Pitts is an American record producer, manager, and President of RCA Records and CEO of ByStorm Entertainment. He has managed a number of artists and produced musical tracks for performers including Notorious B.I.G, Faith Evans, Miguel, J. ...

, who later played it for

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

. Pitts said in a 2011 interview, "I went to Jay's house and said, 'I'm going to play you one thing,' and I played him "Lights Please." Prior to Jay-Z reaction to the song, he called Cole and set up a meeting the next morning. The meeting lead to signing the rapper to

Roc Nation Roc Nation is an entertainment agency founded by Jay-Z in 2008. The company is headquartered in Manhattan and has additional offices in Los Angeles and London. Roc Nation comprises a comprehensive talent agency, sports agency, record label, mana ...

, an achievement Cole has been striving for since attending college. Although the song appeared on ''

'', Cole initially planned for it to be on his debut album. "I was performing the song in front of most of these people hodidn't really know me they might have heard

f me F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hist ...

I was like, 'I'm about to do this song. I wanna do something for y'all it's called "Lights Please." Even if I drop my album in 2012 this gonna be on the album." I said that not really knowing that my album would really almost drop in 2012. I said it just as a joke, but I was serious." Cole also said in interview, "when history is told 10, 15 years from now, 20, 30, 40 years from now, it's important that they know that song was a big part of my career. I wanted to do that song justice, it deserved more than mixtape track"

Recording and composition

The song is produced by J. Cole and samples

Dexter Wansel Dexter Gilman Wansel (born August 22, 1950) is an American R&B/jazz fusion singer, arranger, musician, composer, conductor, synthesist and A&R director. Early life Dexter Wansel began as an errand boy backstage at the Uptown Theater in Philade ...

's "Theme From the Planets". It was recorded in 2008 and Cole has expressed how he wanted it to appear on his debut album saying, "I had a show over 2 years ago ..and I told the crowd, 'this is still gonna be on my album.' I always felt like that because it really represents my style." Cole considers the song as a personal classic of his, saying, "'Lights Please' is a J. Cole classic. Meaning that all my fans or true fans that's really been there for a minute are gonna recognize that song because it was on a mixtape I got called The Warm Up." The song is a story about a hook-up, in which Cole interrupts a conversation with a woman to discuss the state of the world: "I told her all about how we been livin' a lie / And that they love to see us all go to prison or die."

Music video

On June 16, 2014, J. Cole premiered the music video for the song on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

for the five year anniversary of ''The Warm Up''. The video was shot in August of 2008, the same day he shot the music videos for "Simba" and "Lost Ones". However, Cole ended up not being completely satisfied with the way the final product turned out.

References

{{J. Cole songs 2009 debut singles 2009 songs J. Cole songs Songs written by J. Cole Song recordings produced by J. Cole Roc Nation singles Columbia Records singles Sony Music singles