Is a new J. Cole season about to begin? According to a social media post attributed to Bas, one of Cole’s Dreamville Records acts, the North Carolina-raised emcee could be ready to return with a new body of work by the end of May.
A screenshot supposedly taken from Bas’s verified Instagram page has been circulating on social media over the last day. The image shows J. Cole working in a recording studio. The caption reads, “🤯🤯🤯 The Off-Season. Pack your bags. 🚀 In two weeks.”
There have been conversations about the pending Off-Season project for years. Back in 2018, J. Cole dropped “Album Of The Year (Freestyle)”on SoundCloud. The description for that track read, “The Off Season coming soon… All roads lead to The Fall Off.”
Then in December 2020, J. Cole uploaded an Instagram photo of a notebook page. The phrases “The Fall Off Era,” “The Off-Season,” “It’s A Boy,” and “The Fall Off” were written in the Hip Hop star’s journal. Fans began speculating if Cole was hinting at a proposed release schedule.
More intrigue was created around J. Cole earlier this year when Dreamville Records co-founder Ibrahim Hamad posted an Instagram photo of what appeared to be Cole filming visual content. Hamad commented, “Locked in. The Off-Season.”
While most of the recent attention has been on J. Cole possibly letting loose a collection of tunes called The Off-Season, there are still questions about The Fall Off project. The closing track of Cole’s 2018 studio LP KOD was titled “1985 (Intro to The Fall Off).”
KOD is J. Cole’s most recent solo album. He also spearheaded 2019’s Grammy-nominated Revenge of the Dreamers III compilation which featured contributions by Dreamville’s Bas, Cozz, Omen, Lute, Ari Lennox, EarthGang, and J.I.D. as well as special guests like DaBaby, Guapdad 4000, Buddy, T.I, Vince Staples, Ty Dolla Sign, Dreezy, and Saba.
Last summer, J. Cole released the singles “Lion King On Ice” and “The Climb Back.” The 36-year-old Roc Nation recording artist also found himself in an unexpected back-and-forth with Chicago rapper Noname after Cole responded to one of her tweets with the “Snow On Tha Bluff” record.