Um, “Work Out” is the Big J. Cole Single We Were All Waiting For? (Listen & Download)

For well over a month now J. Cole's been telling us that his new single, the first official release of his ridiculously anticipated "Cole World" album, was finished and that it'd be dropping any minute. "Disgusting" came out but no, that wasn't the single. The single will be much better, he promised. "Lost Ones" leaked and it was dope but no, that wasn't the single either. And then finally, tonight, that highly coveted first single, "Work Out", dropped and....

This is what we were waiting for? A song that samples Kanye's "Workout Plan" and, I need to point out, Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" on the back end. Seriously. For the record, as ill as something like "Lost Ones' would have been, I was totally cool with Cole making a song for the ladies. That's how you really build some momentum for your album, I get it. (See also: Big Sean "My Last".) But this? This is just, eh. I mean, "In the Morning" is what, literally twice as good? I just don't get it.

I kind of feel like a kid who runs downstairs on Christmas morning, tears open his present from Santa and finds a sweater. I mean, thanks Santa, I guess. This will be really warm, if I'm cold, or whatever.

For the record, I still firmly believe that "Cole World" can be a damn good album, it's way too early to start panicking, this just isn't a particularly auspicious start. Or maybe I'm way off base here, let's see: