J. COLE RETURNS WITH "THE OFF-SEASON"

J. Cole returned with his 6th studio album, declaring his departure from rap sooner than later. The Off-Season serves as the first of three projects withThe Fall Off being his last project expected before he retires. With that being the direction J. Cole is moving towards, breaking down this project comes to the thought that it was created as if it was his last. The Off Season is a cohesive body of work and upon listening, it is one of the albums that actually lends itself to the statement of being meant to be listened to from beginning to end. Having listened to the project for almost a week after its release, it still remains to work being played as a whole.

The album opens with the Camron narrated “9 5 . s o u t h” and features 21 Savage, Lil Baby, Bas, Morray and 6lack. Highlights/ELSV favorites include: the entire track listing "a p p l y i n g . p r e s s u r e," "l e t . g o . m y . h a n d," and "t h e . c l i m b . b a c k." — From someone somewhat critical of rap and Hip Hop, The Off-Season provides that breath of fresh air to a genre saturated with so much of the same; where you hear the same sounds, the same cadence, the same style, the same bars over a two minute length track — Tracks that are easily forgettable. This album isn't that, this project and its rollout is reminiscent of what album releases used to look like and what's been missing for a long time.