J-Cole’s 6th album The Off-Season released on May 14, 2021, and was nothing short of spectacular. With over 325 million streams in 2 weeks, the album sits #1 on the US Billboard 200, according to The New York Times. All six of his albums have reached that #1 spot for popular rap artist Jermaine Cole. The North Carolina rapper, now a professional basketball player in Africa, has influenced millions with his music.
The 12 song album shows off J-Cole’s talent and brilliance, especially with the way he expresses his stories through the lyrics. After over 3 years without an album release, it was refreshing to hear some new music from him.
J-Cole may be considered the most lyrically gifted artist right now.
With J-Cole’s songs, you want to focus on his lyrics. He may rap fast but if you listen close you can catch different things he says. For example, he shouts out different rappers, athletes, and celebrities in some songs. Star NBA basketball players Ja Morant and Russel Westbrook are mentioned in “Amari” and “My Life.”
This album has no skips. I enjoyed listening to each and every song, but I do think that some are better than others.
The features on a couple of songs improve them significantly. “Pride is the Devil” and “My Life” include features with popular artists Lil Baby and 21 Savage. The features were hidden throughout the album, so it was a surprise to hear others contribute to the songs.
Every song is great and you can tell that this album wasn’t just scraped together, it took over 3 years to produce. There were no songs I disliked, but there were some that I found better than others. If I had to narrow down the top 3 songs on The Off-Season, “Pride is the Devil,” “Amari,” and “My Life.” are the best ones.
“Pride is the Devil” is probably the best song to get pumped up to. It gets more upbeat throughout the song. The transition from J-Cole to Lil Baby was one the best I’ve ever heard. Both of their parts were great and it made the song worth many more plays. The beat is nice and it’s one of the best songs on the album in my opinion.
In “Amari,” J-Cole did a really good job in showing off his vocals. The words are super catchy and I enjoy everything about this song. The beat drop right at the start was interesting and catchy. J-Cole talks about basketball multiple times in Amari and it shows how much he cherishes the sport.
“My Life” has a throwback type beat. I can see why many people think this is the best song on the album. It starts off slow and progressively gets a faster pace. 21 Savage and Morray were featured on this song and were awesome additions.
J-Cole’s album The Off-Season has the potential to be his best project yet. The whole album is definitely worth the listen.
