The wait is over.
After much anticipation, J. Cole returns with the first offering from his upcoming sixth studio album The Off-Season. On “i n t e r l u d e,” the Dreamville boss warms up for the main event with a two-minute teaser, which he produced with T-Minus and Tommy Parker.
“This shit can go one of two ways / This shit can go up, it can go down / Either way, ni**a, I’m prepared,” Cole raps over the soulful instrumental before boasting about his numbers. “Cole World, ni**as knowin’ what it is / Just in case they don’t, I show ’em what it is / In summer, I do real numbers / Couldn’t dare touch it if they sold a double disc.”
He goes on to pay homage to two late rap legends. “Christ went to heaven, age 33 / And so did Pimp C and so did Nipsey,” says Cole before adding, “I done seen the highest heights / I done seen it twice / And I seen the lowest of the lows, and still I rose / Now I’m at your neck, ni**a.”
And he’s just getting started. In one week, Cole will release his highly-anticipated album The Off-Season, the follow-up to 2018’s chart-topping KOD. “Just know this was years in the making,” he told fans.
Last summer, he dropped two singles, “The Climb Back” and “Lion King on Ice,” along with the politically-charged track “Snow on Tha Bluff.” The Off-Season is expected to be followed by two more Cole projects, It’s a Boy and The Fall Off.