J. Cole prepares to take his shot with the cover of his Roc Nation debut Cole World: The Sideline Story, arriving in stores on September 27. The North Carolina MC sits pensively in the locker room awaiting his moment in the spotlight in the photo by Leann Mueller.

He told Rap-Up TV how he came up with the title.

“I actually wanted to do Cole World for the second album title, but by the time people started suggesting it, it just kinda went all the way out the window,” he explained. “When I came up with an album title that I actually liked, it was The Sideline Story. But it felt incomplete. I felt like, ‘Oh man, let’s make it a series and make Cole World the Star Wars [with sub-titles].’ Cole World is something that my fans recognize and they love and I love it too.”

Cole also previews new music from the album in a new webisode, part of his Any Given Sunday series.