The Off-Season
| J. Cole
The Off-Season
The Off-Season is the sixth studio album by American rapper J. Cole. It was released on May 14, 2021, by Dreamville Records, Roc Nation and Interscope Records. The album was executive produced by Cole, Ibrahim Hamad, and T-Minus. It also featured guest vocals from Morray, 21 Savage, Lil Baby, Bas, and 6lack. It became Cole's first album since 2013's Born Sinner to contain guest features. Production was handled by multiple producers, including Cole himself, T-Minus, Timbaland, Boi-1da, Frank Dukes, DJ Dahi, Tae Beast, and Jake One, among others. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Rolling Stone
The rapper’s compositions are nimble but his stories feel safe.
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NME
technical brilliance that’s not built for the mainstream.
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Complex
J. Cole’s Workout Plan Paid Off on ‘The Off-Season’.
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Magnetic Magazine
Cole World is back on The Off-Season, as the North Carolina rapper still wants to tell stories that should be told, but is also not afraid to let you know about his own talents. Sometimes he can trip over his own braggadocio, trying to put others down in ways that don’t have the same incisiveness as other modes of his rapping, but he does land plenty of hits. For J. Cole fans, three years can feel like a long time between albums, but it will be worth the wait.
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Variety
J. Cole Is Very Much on His Game in ‘The Off-Season’.
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Ratings Game Music
After listening to The Offseason, I am proud to announce that J. Cole has officially clinched a spot as one of my top 5 rappers of all time.
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All Music
The album is a varied selection with solid performances and production throughout. Much like the title suggests, The Off-Season feels like Cole running through different exercises as he gets in shape for something bigger.
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The Crimson
“The Off-Season” refers to a period in an athlete’s career when they hone their skills and improve their game, alluding to the constant grind which took place during Cole’s hiatus. The two previously released songs encapsulate that overarching attitude of the album. While “interlude” represents the self-confidence of Cole at the top of his game, the lead single “the.climb.back” conversely illustrates the laborious and intensive uphill battle he’s fought throughout his career to get there.
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Stereogum
Elsewhere on The Off-Season, Cole raps next to 21 Savage and Lil Baby, while singers like 6LACK and Morray deliver hooks. Those Savage and Baby verses represent smart, considered choices on Cole’s part. Both are Atlanta natives from the generation just behind Cole’s, and both balance out mass appeal with critical respectability. Cole wants to engage a younger generation, but he wants to do it on his own terms. For the most part, he pulls it off.
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Clash Magazine
An album that touches astronomical heights.
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Erie Reader
At this point, Cole could easily hang up his jersey and retire gracefully. But by the looks and sounds of it, the icon has more points to put on the scoreboard.
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Soul in Stereo
Perhaps The Off Season‘s biggest revelation is that despite scores of fans already set to crown him king, Cole’s hunger for the throne has not subsided. He doesn’t want you to tell him that he’s the best, he wants to prove it. That elusive classic might be his sooner than later.
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Sputnik Music
Cole has earned his right to hyperbole just as he earned his professional basketball signing – with hard fucking work and training. Rest assured that while a bunch of us nerds are sticking as many demerits as we can find onto The Off-Season, rappers worldwide are studiously listening and taking notes.
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Surreal Resolution
This is a serviceable hip-hop record with production that provides a balance of modern and classic hip-hop elements with Cole handling some of the production as expected with other producers like T-Minus, Boi-1da, Jake One, DJ Dahi among others.
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black boy bulletin
In more than one instance, the production carries the lyricism and performance on this album which isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world, but it feels off when it’s happening to J. Cole. Regardless, this is undoubtedly a step-up from KOD and 4 Your Eyez Only, and if this is just the “off-season,” there simply must be even greater things in store for what is rumored to be Cole’s final album.
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Hot New Hip Hop
Operating at a self-determined pace, Cole may be one step closer to The Fall Off that he’s mandated for himself, but The Off-Season’s content suggests that he’s as impervious as he ever has been to any dip in quality or relevance. In fact, he’s as essential as ever. Impeccably juggling flows as though each one has an expiry date and leaning into his vocal range like never before, The Off-Season would be a remarkable body of work at any juncture in an artist’s career.
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Ben's Beat
There was a period of time around the 4 Your Eyez Only era where it seemed like Cole had lost his spark, more interested in his family life than the love of the game. Rest assured, that period has been completely left in the past. Cole sounds genuinely interested in being remembered long after he’s gone, and if he brings this energy to a more meaningful concept next time around, he will be.
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Vinyl Chapters
Although this is an intense and reflective album, it cannot be denied that this is a solid rap record with a great deal of thought gone into its message. Whether J. Cole will continue to make music following The Off-Season remains unclear, but as he puts it “The money might fade, but respect don’t/Still gon’ be me when success gone” (h u n g e r . o n . h i l l s i d e).
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Peanut Butter Pope
He’s not outdoing himself or advancing in any facet of hip hop, but ‘The Off-Season’ winks at its title, acknowledging that J. Cole’s vocal talent is all that truly needs to be showy.
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The Eisenberg Review
While he may not be the GOAT as he repeatedly claims throughout The Off-Season (that’s MF DOOM), his propensity for self-reflection, inspired wordplay and mastery of multiple flows does make him one of his generation’s most talented MCs. The Off-Season is an indelible reminder that represents Cole’s finest work since 2014 Forest Hills Drive.
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All Music
The album is a varied selection with solid performances and production throughout. Much like the title suggests, The Off-Season feels like Cole running through different exercises as he gets in shape for something bigger.
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Pitchfork
On J. Cole’s refreshing and lively new album, the rapper relaxes his grip around the mic and thrives when he’s collaborating, not when he’s making deadly serious legacy raps.
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The Stanford Daily
“The Off Season” is still a highly noteworthy and impressive project containing some of Cole’s finest music. J. Cole and the Dreamville camp are implying that Cole’s primary focus is creating his magnum opus, “The Fall-Off,” which he plans to be his final album of his career. Because of that, “The Off-Season” serves as more of an appetizer in his discography, but a marvelous appetizer at that.
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Focus Hip Hop
So yeah, this album is pretty much on par with his others in my opinion. I like it more than most of them, but Cole World is still my favorite. This is a dope album though. I fuck with it.
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Medium
There is a lot to like with The Off-Season, J. Cole largely meets his standard and that is quite a high bar to reach. It is impossible to divorce this from the context that this album arrives within — three years after his last solo album and as the precursor to his final work — and Cole’s words about going above and beyond himself.
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Hardwood and Hollywood
this is a J. Cole album that will age like fine wine and will most likely sit up there with some of his best projects like Forest Hill Drive. With J. Cole now shifting his focus to professional basketball, as he is currently playing overseas in Africa with the NAL, it may be another few years before we see another album release. But the king of MCs did not fail to disappoint with another phenomenal project with The Off-Season.
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Hotpress
While Cole's verses are heart-wrenching and emotional at points, The Off-Season isn’t saying anything new or thought-provoking in the rap landscape. It's slightly disappointing, considering his previous albums have clearly demonstrated that he is capable of much more.
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Spinditty
The Off-Season, Jermaine Cole’s sixth studio album, is one of the most enjoyable albums he has released in recent years, in my opinion—probably because I did not enjoy his 2018 release, KOD, because of the production and his overly introspective persona on that particular album. However, on his latest release, Cole sounds like he is having fun practicing and perfecting his craft, and for me the listener, it is an enthralling experience.
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Stereoboard
Cole also continues to prop up the industry-wide capitulation to autotuning his voice, a vexing approach to vocal production that continues to ruin otherwise organic sounding bars, and take the listener out of the moment. Not quite a slam dunk, then, but pretty close.
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