Daniel DeSlover

J. Cole announces new album 'The Off-Season' will drop sooner than you think

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated May 4, 2021 2:37 PM ET

"Is this thing on," J. Cole tweeted Tuesday after reactivating his account, sending fans into a frenzy.

The 36-year-old rapper made sure to set Twitter on fire less than an hour later by announcing his "years in the making" album The Off-Season will drop May 14:

Just know this was years in the making.

My new album The Off-Season available everywhere 5/14 pic.twitter.com/aBw4po8fvx
— J. Cole (@JColeNC) May 4, 2021

Cole and his Dreamville peer Bas teased the project last week:

J. Cole just posted this on IG

The Off-Season is really coming!!!!

THIS IS NOT A DRILL pic.twitter.com/UPc9Em7Hrh
— Team DREAMVILLE (@Team_Dreamville) May 1, 2021

Bas just posted this

Is J. Cole dropping “The Off-Season” in two weeks?!?!? pic.twitter.com/XhldwwRQM7
— Team DREAMVILLE (@Team_Dreamville) April 29, 2021

The Off-Season falls in line with a "The Fall Off Era" moodboard shared by the North Carolina native last December:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cole (@realcoleworld)

Cole released Revenge of the Dreamers III, the third compilation album dropped by his Dreamville record label, in January 2020. His last full-length solo studio album, KOD, came all the way back in April 2018.

Megan Armstrong

Megan Armstrong (@megankarmstrong) is a writer whose work has appeared in places such as Billboard, GQ, Esquire, Bleacher Report, Uproxx, and others. Megan has also produced various podcasts and hosted a daily radio show at Mizzou. She grew up obsessed with sports — impressing adults by memorizing NFL statistics as a kindergartner — and grew into an obsession with music

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