Off-Season, J.

Cole’s
Attempt to Return to the A-
List
6.7

J. Cole performs at Wireless Festival at Finsbury Park in London on July 6, 2018.

Scott Garfitt/REX/Shutterstock

Written by: Griffin Majer

December 7th , 2022

Ever since J. Cole’s debut studio album Cole World: The Sideline Story  (2011), the entire hip-
hop industry has drooled over his creative lyrics and inventive sampling. Over the past decade,
Cole’s storytelling has helped him climb his way to the peak of the rap industry. With the release
of his 6th project The Off-Season (2020), his time at the top may be cut short.

The Off-Season brings the listener back to the roots of the mix-tape era Cole, a young black man
who attempts to foresee the future ahead of him. These themes stray away from Cole’s previous
project KOD (2018), which left lots of listeners head’s spinning from its overcomplicated
rhythms and borderline chaotic production. He also keeps clear of a “story” album, such as his
2016 album 4 Your Eyez Only, where the tracklist is linked together to portray the life of Cole’s
deceased childhood friend, James McMillian Jr.

Cole’s discography has proven to fans for years that he can produce a great album, one that
contains an impressive flow of lyrics, beautiful sound, and a purposefully picked tracklist. His
platinum album 2014 Forest Hills Drive (2014) is the epitome of this. Using his original address
from his childhood home in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the release of this project put Cole’s
music on the front stage in the rap game. Cole’s emotion combined with his incredible music
production crafted his most notorious songs including “No Role Modelz” and “Wet Dreamz”.
Hidden behind the musical talent Cole depicts, the carefully selected tracklist brings the tracks
together in harmony, something Cole did even more cleverly than on 4 Your Eyez Only.

Instead of following in the footsteps of his previous success, the 12 tracks Cole created seem to
have been thrown in a random number generator, and he used the result to create a track order.
Why put the interlude as the fourth to last track? What good does that do?
 
The randomness of these tracks leads to much confusion for the listener. The album begins with
“95. south” where Cole, with a lack of substance, yells at the people who bring him down and
are too scared to show their faces. Immediately the next track is “amari” where Cole
unexpectedly changes gears to create a pop-rap hit where he mindlessly raps upon his coming up
as a rapper. This pattern of minimal connections between songs makes the project ultimately
hard to listen to.

Cole's lackluster effort not only trickled into his tracklist but also into the music production.
Tracks that gave Cole his fame, such as “Change” and “Power Trip” were songs that swooned
fans due to his clever instrument choices and sample features. As expected, most fans were
disappointed to hear that the meat of the song's production was dry and monotonous. The song's
rhythms aren’t anything close to knives on a chalkboard, yet they still have an aurora of
basicness to them. In an age of hip-hop where there is an exponential number of new artists and
sounds, sticking to basic snare drumbeats covered over with the same flavorless guitar riffs isn’t
going to cut it.

The sad thing is most of these songs fall into this trap. The fourth and fifth tracks, “applying.
pressure” and “punchin’.the.clock” fit in the “bad song” category. The two songs lack so much
musical substance, that when listening to this portion of the album, your brain thinks you are
listening to the same song due to the extreme similarity in beat and rhythm. 

What hurts the project, even more, is that the features of this album don’t give much of anything
either. Cole teams up with Atlanta-raised rapper 21 Savage who raps unironically about sending
teddy bears to people's mothers on “my. life”. Cole also collabs with Lil Baby, a mumble hip-
hop star who indirectly changes the theme of “pride.is.the.devil” from a confident reflection by
Cole to the meaningless bars about sex, money, and fame The decision to announce features is a
shock to many as Cole is known notably for achieving success with no help from anyone. The
two main features on this album give these potentially good songs a less lyric-focused album and
more music industry hit, something that ultimately hurts the album's performance.

Regardless of overall piss-poor musical production, some of the songs do in fact carry a musical
substance to them. It wouldn’t be a J. Cole album if there weren’t a few. It isn’t till the back part
of the album that we see give the listeners that everyone knows and loves. On “let.go.my.hand”,
Cole brings back his notorious lyrics to display the struggles of growing up, as an adult and a
child. He does this carefully on what seemed like a rhythm he tried on. Its careful combination of
a xylophone and a 6LACK vocal brings a calming vibe to the song, a relaxation to the listener
after having to listen to the first half. 

A similar effort is picked up in the last three songs to close this project. “the.climb.back” and
“hunger.on.the.hillside” are exceptions to the front of the album disaster. Both tracks contain
high levels of lyrics that contain the important themes that Cole embodies. On “the. climb. back”
Cole authentically raps on the death of his brothers saying “Survival at all costs, everyday niggas
get logged off/ Bodies get hauled off /Passin' a funeral procession while holdin' my breath in the
car, I thought /At times, it be feelin' the devil be winnin' but do that mean God lost?.” 

The Off-Season disappointing feeling is a common theme among listeners. A reviewer from

Pitchfork, Alphonse Pierre, reiterates the failure of the album, saying that the track “Applying
Pressure” feels tense, made worse by a lifeless self-produced boom-bap instrumental that sounds
like the background music for a ’90s UPN sitcom and some bars that have become expected of
the out of touch rap elite”.

On top of Pierre reiterating the corny lyrics that Cole uses throughout the album, he also uses
much of his emphasis on the fact that the album is a “much-needed break from the heavy-handed
preachiness that made KOD and 4 Your Eyez Only such slogs to get through”. His two
approaches are the perfect definition for the album; True it wasn’t a great album, but it could be
worse.

If you are looking for another legendary J. Cole album, you have come to the wrong place. Yes,
there may be tracks that are enjoyable to some, but nothing here is going to scream at you to
come back for more. Cole’s an undeniably great artist, but there are other albums that prove his
worth. Cole’s older projects like Born Sinner  and 2014 Forest Hills Drive are ones that have
consistently provided the rap community with hours of actual enjoyable music. 

Another popular figure in the lyricist sector of the rap game is Kendrick Lamar. Arguably his
biggest competitor, the two are constantly head-to-head creating numerous Grammy-nominated
albums and worldwide hits in the rap genre. To Pimp a Butterfly and good kid, m.A.A.d city  are
a great starting point if your ears wish to listen to take a break from J.Cole. Whomever it may be,
remember to keep Cole in the back of your mind. He may be entering his literal off-season, but
his ongoing success of the past decade is a constant reminder to stay alert when his next project
releases, because who knows, it may just be another hit.

 
 

Works Cited

Music, All. “21 Savage Biography, Songs, & Albums.” AllMusic,

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/21-savage-mn0003515232/biography

Conteh, Mankaprr. “J. Cole Prizes Benign Autobiography over Social Commentary on 'the off-
Season'.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 1 July 2022,
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/j-cole-the-off-season-1173332/.

Goble, Corban. “J. Cole: Born Sinner.” Pitchfork, Pitchfork, 21 June 2013,
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17588-j-cole-born-sinner/.

Greene, Jayson. “J. Cole: Cole World: The Sideline Story.” Pitchfork, Pitchfork, 30 Sept. 2011,
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15879-j-cole-cole-world-the-sideline-story/
Jenkins, Craig. “J. Cole and the Limitations of Millennial Rap.” Vulture, Vulture, 18 May 2021,
https://www.vulture.com/2021/05/j-cole-the-off-season-album-review.html.

“Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly Review – Challenging but Gripping.” The Guardian,
Guardian News and Media, 19 Mar. 2015,
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/19/kendrick-lamar-to-pimp-a-butterfly-
review

“Kendrick Lamar Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More.” Edited by All Music, AllMusic,
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kendrick-lamar-mn0002709646

“Lil Baby Biography, Songs, & Albums.” Edited by All Music, AllMusic,
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lil-baby-mn0003353669/biography.

Pierre, Alphonse. “J. Cole: The Off-Season.” Pitchfork, Pitchfork, 18 May 2021,
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/j-cole-the-off-season/.

Xxl, et al. “Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, M.A.A.D City.” Album of The Year, 27 June 2012,
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/3840-kendrick-lamar-good-kid-maad-
city.php#:~:text=Overall%2C%20good%20kid%2C%20m.A.A.d%20city%20is%20an
%20invigorating,control%20of%20cadence.%20There%E2%80%99s%20not%20a
%20single%20loophole