J. Cole will release his sixth studio album The Off-Season on May 14. “Just know this was years in the making,” the North Carolina rapper said on Instagram. K.O.D., Cole’s last album, was released in 2018, and his Dreamville Records compilation Revenge of the Dreamers III arrived in 2019. The same year, Cole suggested during a concert performance that his long-awaited project The Fall Off would be released in 2020. The project never arrived despite the release of two singles “The Climb Back” and “Lion King on Ice,” but a subsequent Instagram post hinted that The Fall Off will be released some time after The Off-Season. 2020 also saw the release of Cole’s song “Snow on tha Bluff,” a track that contained subliminal shots at rapper and activist Noname.J. Cole’s new album The Off-Season is out next week
The Off-Season cover art