Listen: J. Cole Releases New Album ‘The Off-Season’

News of The Off-Season erupted on social media last week when Cole announced the album. Following similar basketball themes from his previous projects like The Come Up, The Warm Up, and Cole World: The Sideline Story.

Ahead of the album’s release, Cole dropped “Interlude” to give fans a taste of what The Off-Season had to offer. The North Carolina rapper also shared a mini-documentary, Applying Pressure: The Off-Season, which chronicled the inspiration behind the album, the title, and what Cole has been up to in the interim before its release.

Today, J. Cole released the album. The record includes last week’s “i n t e r l u d e” and boasts production from Timbaland, Boi-1da, frequent collaborator T-Minus, J. Cole, and more. It also features cameos from 21 Savage, Lil Baby, and Cam’ron.

All five of J. Cole’s studio LPs have been certified platinum by the RIAA. The last three—2014 Forest Hills Drive, 4 Your Eyez Only, and KOD—have famously gone “platinum with no features.”

In a 2019 feature with Allison P. Davis for GQ, Cole commented on the meme-phrase: “I was loving it,” he said. “I was like, ‘Word up—this is funny as hell.’ But the second or third time, I was like, ‘All right, it’s almost embarrassing now.’ Like, ‘All right, man, y’’ll gonna make me put a feature on the album just so this shit can stop.’”

In the time since KOD, J. Cole has also delivered his own spate of guest verses. To name a few, Cole has featured on Gang Starr’s “Family and Loyalty,” Ty Dolla $ign’s “Purple Emoji,” Young Thug’s “The London,” and 21 Savage’s “a lot,” which earned the rappers the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Rap Song.

Then, in 2019, J. Cole and Dreamville released Revenge of The Dreamers III. The following year, he shared the singles “The Climb Back” (which appears on The Off-Season), “Lion King on Ice,” and “Snow on tha Bluff.”

In a tweet, Chart data indicates that every album in J.Cole’s discography has reached number 1 on the Billboard 200, and, ‘The Off-Season’ has reached number 1 on US Apple music and US iTunes.

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