J. Cole shows love to NBA players in The Off-Season
The wait is over. J. Cole dropped. Yes, THE J. Cole. Jermaine. Cole.
The heavily anticipated album The Off-Season was released at midnight Friday. Before an hour had passed, social media exploded with praise and disbelief of the clever bars and hidden features spread throughout the album.
The Off-Season is the North Carolina rapper’s sixth studio album, and the first one Cole has released since KOD in 2018. The album hasn’t been out for more than a day and fans are already calling it a classic.
One of the most talked-about parts of the album is the homages and samples he added of NBA players. Cole is known for his close relationship with the game of basketball. It’s widely known that his first dream career was to be a professional basketball player, a dream that actually came true recently when he joined Rwanda’s Patriots BBC, a team within the Basketball Africa League.
The basketball shout-outs begin in the first song, “9 5 . s o u t h.” Cole raps “ And got they O’s off, you reach, n****s uppin’ like Steph.” Here, Cole is of course talking about Warriors guard Steph Curry and his quick and lethal shot release. Curry has proven just how lethal his shot is this season, as he leads the NBA in total points, points per game, and total 3-pt field goals made.
The next reference Cole makes is on “a m a r i” when he says, “Kill ‘em on a song, walk up out the booth, do the Westbrook rock-a-baby.” The “rock-a-baby” is a celebration done by Wizards guard Russell Westbrook. It started back when Westbrook still played for his first team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and it has continued as he has moved on to the Houston Rockets and now the Washington Wizards. Westbrook does the celebration after he scores a basket on a smaller defender. In an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Westbrook explained that when the mismatch presents itself, “you have to treat them like babies.” Cole has been known to do the “rock-a-baby”, allegedly he might say, to younger rappers like Lil Pump.
In the next song, “m y . l i f e,” Cole name-drops Grizzlies guard Ja Morant: “Ja Morant, I’m on my Grizzly.” Cole is referring to the second-year point guard’s fearless playing style and tendency to attack the rim with a tenacity similar to a ferocious Grizzly bear. I agree with Cole on the observation that he is indeed “on his Grizzly” with this track in particular.
Next up are the two samples of Trailblazers guard Damian Lillard in “p u n c h i n ‘ . t h e . c l o c k.” Lillard, who is a rapper himself, didn’t get a true feature, but Cole did use some of the most memorable words that Lillard has ever said on the court. The first sample comes from a post-game interview (00:21) following a 61-pt performance that resulted in a win against the Mavericks last season. In the heartfelt reply to how bad he wanted the win, Lillard said “It ain’t nothing I want more. Ain’t nothing I want more. I ain’t c— ...I told you, when I first came here, I said, ‘I ain’t come here to waste my time.’ I came here. They gave us a chance to get in, like we asked for. And that’s, that’s what we here to do. The job still ain’t done. But I, I said, “You, you know what I’m here for.”
The second sample from Lillard is him describing how the work or lack of work put in during the off-season, pun intended, always comes to light at some point. In his own words, Lillard says “A lot of times, those situations are, um, are handled way before the time comes. In the summer, I think when you truly prepare yourself, and with training and conditioning, and things like that. When you cheat yourself, you fail in those moments. You know, you crash, and when you really put in the time and whether people see it, or whether people know it or not you know, it always come to light.” Both of the samples of Lillard speak to the work ethic and relentlessness that he possesses and uses to strive for greatness; something Cole does in his own way.
Last but certainly not least, Cole references the Kid from Akron himself, Lakers guard/forward LeBron James in “1 0 0 . m i l ‘”, my personal favorite song on the album. In the song, Cole says, “Can’t leave the game yet, I feel like LeBron.” Cole is clearly comparing his place atop the rap game to James and his status as the best player in the NBA. Just like how James still hasn’t retired after playing 18 seasons and is playing at a very high level, Cole feels he still doesn’t want to retire because he feels that he’s still the best rapper out even though he’s 36 years old and 10 years removed from his first studio album.
It wasn’t a surprise that Cole would incorporate basketball into this album. I mean, there is a basketball hoop on the album cover for The Off-Season. What also shouldn’t come as a surprise is how well received the album was, and how excited fans are for the next one. What would be a surprise is if Cole didn’t come through with his promise of great music. But don’t worry, if you know anything about J. Cole, you know that a seasoned vet like him doesn’t miss in crunch time.