Marketing. Y’all stay falling for this stuffCole is hinting at retirement
Albums J. Cole - The Off-Season (Discussion Thread)
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I’ve been a fan since the beginning but I feel like Cole hasn’t really come far unless you mean you’re talking about becoming a superstar
A lot of his to do with him not taking any chances with his music but he’s pretty much making the same music he made since the warm up.
Piff Perkins
Veteran
On one hand I agree, on the other hand I disagree. Agree wise...to me the biggest aspect of J Cole as a rapper, and arguably his biggest flaw, is that he's a fan who became a star. What I mean is that many of his decisions can be described as "remember when x did y? I'm doing that, but it's gonna be different." And he constantly straight up tells people this in interviews (and docs). So in Cole's mind, if he retires he HAS to come back like Jordan with the 45 (Hov), and he has to do it better - which wouldn't be hard since Kingdom Come is...well yea. He'd come back solely because Hov did and he thinks he can do it better.
Flip side, the disagree side: he hates the industry, he's a dedicated father, and has built a label that will allow him to throw out a couple verses to Bas/JID/Cozz/etc a year, do Dreamville Fest, and even do his own yearly (or bi-yearly) tour. I could see him dipping like that.
BTW this Friday album is not the last. The last album is The Fall Off, which comes next. So assuming he drops The Fall Off in two years, which is about standard for him...2023. 2024 maybe, which is when the tour would presumably end. He'd be 37 years old.
i meant overall, but greatly as an mc too, some of his albums aren’t the best, but I think the only “safe” albums were the first few
Cole is hinting at retirement
He’s been saying since KOD that he’s retiring after The Fall Off
Redwood
Superstar
I'll give this some burn after I've heard interlude 
dora_da_destroyer
Master Baker
Big KRIT....this is the reason I can't get with people absolving Cole of his mid ass beats just because he's successful, he has a peer who is elite lyrically and on the boards
I’m still putting Cole above Krit as an mc, but yeah Krits production is way better, Imaginr of Cole could make the type of soulful shyt Krit was rapping over on those first 4 mixtapes
Insensitive
Superstar
I think this needs to be more normalized.
It's a hell of a lot harder to treat Hip-Hop/Emceeing as whatever when you gotta be the producer/DJ too.
Self contained artists see the entire sausage being made in a way these dudes jocking for free beats
don't understand.
Notice how he freestyled over 93 til infinity, harkening back to his track on The Warm Up
Remember Lion King On Ice? To me that was like a conclusion or the 2nd to last installment of the Simba saga he's been doing since his first mixtapes. I feel like he's intentionally tying loose ends and ending his career in a way that's parallel to how he started
He said he was playing with thoughts of retirement in 2016. 2016 was the start of what he calls "The Fall Off era"
I'm thinking The Off Season will be like The Warm Up but instead of him warming up before he hits the mainstream, he's putting in one more offseason before he hangs it up. Pushing himself lyrically and artistically before his last dance
He had a cover story on SLAM and in the latter section of the article he said "I can't say I'm retiring. I can't put that out there because who knows what happens after I drop the Fall Off. I might feel like throwing my hat in the ring again. But make no mistake, I'm doing all of this for a reason"
Edit: here's the full cover story
J. Cole x SLAM
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Mike the Executioner
What went on up there? Poppers and weird sex!
We're music fans. Which means we know better than the artists we listen to about what they make, and our tastes are A1 already so taking things as they are is accepting failure.
The “Cole makes boring beats” thing is the same reach that people use to say “Nas picks bad beats” and Jay-Z only raps about materialism”
The shyt is so easy to debunk that we all KNOW its bullshyt but people HAVE to use some criticism to not like a rapper and can’t just say “he’s not for me”.
J.Cole ALWAYS sells north of 400K first week on every album. He ALWAYS goes platinum. He’s ALWAYS critically acclaimed. He sells out tours and shows. There is EVERY indication in the world that the man’s music is touching, inspiring, and motivating a wide array of people. The man has OTHER top tier artists coming to him not just for features, but for PRODUCTION. And we’re not just talking about his Dreamville roster. We’re talking Kendrick fukking Lamar! Wale! YBN Cordae. Young Thug. Ab Soul.
And ya’ll nikkas REALLY think the move is supposed to be “fukk your SUCCESSFUL formula and track record. Go get some beats from Timbaland, Justice League, Hit Boy, and Kanye West and make ME happy!”
I love it when artists like Cole don’t listen to that bullshyt and continue charting their own paths. Its a rare artist who can REALLY write their own shyt AND produce, unlike Kanye West, who now needs 789 writers and 678 ghost producers to churn out an album.
The shyt is so easy to debunk that we all KNOW its bullshyt but people HAVE to use some criticism to not like a rapper and can’t just say “he’s not for me”.
J.Cole ALWAYS sells north of 400K first week on every album. He ALWAYS goes platinum. He’s ALWAYS critically acclaimed. He sells out tours and shows. There is EVERY indication in the world that the man’s music is touching, inspiring, and motivating a wide array of people. The man has OTHER top tier artists coming to him not just for features, but for PRODUCTION. And we’re not just talking about his Dreamville roster. We’re talking Kendrick fukking Lamar! Wale! YBN Cordae. Young Thug. Ab Soul.
And ya’ll nikkas REALLY think the move is supposed to be “fukk your SUCCESSFUL formula and track record. Go get some beats from Timbaland, Justice League, Hit Boy, and Kanye West and make ME happy!”
I love it when artists like Cole don’t listen to that bullshyt and continue charting their own paths. Its a rare artist who can REALLY write their own shyt AND produce, unlike Kanye West, who now needs 789 writers and 678 ghost producers to churn out an album.
no it doesn’t and J Cole isn’t self contained imo. He’s just cheap
Hiphop is about collaborating. No other genre does what hiphop does as far working with different producers, sounds and other artist
Ok, but it doesn’t have to be, and I don’t think he’s cheap, he’s never worked with lots of features or other producers, and it works for him, he’s outselling all of these garbage albums full of a bunch of random producers and artists smashed together (Khaled)
