“I’m a child to the game still - I have a lot more to learn,” he said, referring to fatherhood and changes in management. Yet on Saturday, Jeremih, 28, had not been content to only point fingers, citing his own personal challenges and business naïveté for the delays. Jeremih retweeted the mini-rant with added commentary: “Sabotage City.” “They have dropped the ball in so many ways.” “What Def Jam has done to Jeremih is so foul,” he wrote on Instagram and Twitter. The next morning, though, 50 Cent doubled down. Taking the stage as a hypeman alongside Jeremih, the rapper carried on about the young singer’s obvious talent. Late Saturday night, at a show celebrating the album’s release at S.O.B.’s in Manhattan, Jeremih had a surrogate in 50 Cent, the rap superstar turned industry ombudsman. “Truth is, I know people are responsible to do that,” he continued. “You can’t ride around New York and see my face on a poster, and my album’s out. “You’re talking about somebody that ain’t got no videos for any of my platinum singles,” he said of the lack of promotion. Not quite a secret drop, à la Beyoncé, because of years of false starts and a slew of advance singles, “Late Nights” received the “perfect ghetto rollout,” Jeremih said the next day with a mix of resignation and good humor. It’s strange then, or strangely fitting, that when “Late Nights” was finally released on Friday via Def Jam, it came without warning - a welcome surprise for hungry fans, sure, but also a crash landing for a long-planned project. No fewer than six potential release dates were floated in the music press. 6.īut “Late Nights: The Album” didn’t come out then.
A radio fixture since his debut in 2009, the Chicago R&B singer has had four Top 10 Billboard hits, including the platinum-selling “Don’t Tell Em,” which in June 2014 became the first official release from his new album and peaked that fall at No. In the five years since Jeremih last put out an album, his slinky voice has been everywhere.