The Off-Season (2021) – J. Cole

Dreamville, Roc Nation, Interscope; 2021

Disclaimer: Track titles will not be written as they are stylized on the album. Come on now.

On The Off-Season, J. Cole puts an end to the “triple platinum with no features” streak in a hit and miss fashion. Cole recruits 21 Savage, Morray, Bas, Lil Baby, and 6LACK for an album with features for the first time since 2013’s Born Sinner. The Off-Season features the most collaborators in J. Cole’s discography, including a variety of producers in addition to the guest verses and vocals, and this makes for a record that reaches audiences beyond your typical J. Cole stans.

The album starts off with a bang with “95 South”. The song begins with an intro from Cam’ron, who ends up returning for some narration twice more. It’s a nice appearance from the hip-hop great who hails from New York City, the opposite end of the I-95 from Fayetteville, North Carolina, J. Cole’s hometown. “Put Yo Hood Up” as the outro for the song is straight fire.

Cole keeps the high energy up on the next track “Amari”. His flow here is spectacular and he rides the beat really well. The attempt to add some melody to the vocals is a real positive. J. Cole hasn’t really been a rapper with very monotone vocals, but the vocal inflections throughout the song really add some melodic flavour. I do have to say though, the “bababa’s” don’t hit the same. I commend the effort to use layered vocals as an instrument, but it just sounds weird and out of place here. Another instrument or layered synths would’ve done the job perfectly.

As previously mentioned, The Off-Season sees the return of guest vocals after eight years. Definitely a welcome sight for casual J. Cole fans, or hip-hop fans that haven’t paid too much mind to J. Cole in the past. 5 of the 12 tracks on the record feature guest vocals, and while all five tracks are at least decent, not all of them put a shining light on J. Cole.

The first track to feature guest vocals, “My Life”, features a verse from 21 Savage, but you don’t have to listen too closely to realize it simply sounds like a 21 Savage song. 21 nails his verse here and of the three artists, is the one that shines above the others. The beat even sounds like it could’ve been something off of i am > i was. Though producer Jake One didn’t do any production on that record, he did produce a couple songs off of 2017’s Issa Album. “My Life” is a good song, but J. Cole is easily overshadowed by the aura of 21 Savage.

“Pride is the Devil” is another good track on the record that doesn’t highlight J. Cole well. Though Cole has a really good verse and performs a catchy hook, Lil Baby overshadows him with his verse here. His pace-changing flow is so good on this beat and the way he immediately picks up from where Cole leaves it is sick. Without skipping a beat, Lil Baby keeps up the energy and continues the vibe of the song. Furthermore, the beat samples “Can’t Decide” off of Aminé’s 2020 record Limbo, but it’s similar to the point of creeping into remix territory. If you’re familiar with “Can’t Decide”, you picked up on the sample immediately and it then became hard to set aside in your mind.

“Let Go My Hand” though, is a great song that has complimenting guest appearances. This track about the fears for the next generation of Black children in America, specifically J. Cole’s own children, is very sincere from Cole. It fittingly feels like it’s J. Cole featuring Bas and 6LACK, rather than J. Cole appearing on a track with others. If there was any track on the album Cole would want his performance to be highlighted, it’d be this one. If anything, 6LACK’s contribution is not enough. His signature reverby vocals only appear on a short hook and I definitely would’ve loved to hear more from him as I think he fits well on the production. Diddy provides a solemn outro that puts to bed the beef between the two alluded to in J. Cole’s verse.

Some other highlights on the record are “Punchin’ the Clock” and “Close”. “Punchin’ the Clock” is a very solid track that parallels J. Cole’s career to Damian Lillard’s. One of the many tracks on the album about the grind to the top and one I wish was longer. “Close” paints a narrative of a friend he lost to drugs and gang violence. Throughout the song I was fully engaged with the story. I can’t find where it came from, but the vocal sample in the production is a really nice touch.

There aren’t any large lulls in the record, but the tracks “Applying Pressure”, “100 Mil’”, and “The Climb Back” are definitely low points. “Applying Pressure” criticizes rappers that flaunt money they don’t really have and comes across as very whiny, especially the outro. Like, contemporary hip-hop is really about flaunting things you don’t actually have, or things you don’t do or haven’t done. Cole’s flow isn’t bad here, but the beat is something someone from Griselda would’ve definitely bodied.

“100 Mil’” is a boring track that is redundant by the end of the second hook. From the vocal delivery to the structure of this track, it just smells of J. Cole phoning it in and could’ve been left on the cutting room floor. I mean, he basically repeats the same line for 2/3 of the song. The intro where he mutters through it… why?

The first single off the record, “The Climb Back”, is far from J. Cole’s best work and didn’t do well to hype the album up. The start-stop rapping and sluggish vocals make the song overall very sleepy and nothing I’d come back to. The hook doesn’t do its job to capture the listener and gives off a vibe of laziness.

The Off-Season closes with my favourite track on the record, “Hunger on Hillside”. Now this is how to reel the listener back in. J. Cole brings back the strengths of earlier parts of the record. Fast and precise bars with well placed vocal inflections that add melodic flair. The Boi-1da production here is up there with some of his best. This is by far Bas’ best performance on the album with his smooth layered vocals that produce a fantastic hook and sweet, sweet outro.

The Off-Season sees J. Cole track accuracy a bit all over the place. There are tracks with guest vocals that overshadow Cole’s own contribution, but also tracks with guest vocals that compliment his performance well. Similarly, there are tracks where J. Cole definitely could’ve used a guest verse or a recruited hook vocalist, but also tracks where he bodies it solo as he’s done so countless times in the past. There are definitely some songs off The Off-Season that will get a pro contract for Summer playlists, but some album cuts unfortunately won’t even make it to the Summer League.

Favourite tracks: 95 South, Amari, My Life, Punchin’ the Clock, Pride is the Devil, Let Go My Hand, Close, Hunger on Hillside