J. Cole Archives - Page 2 of 81

J Cole’s Manager Confirms Dreamville Fest 2025 Will Be Last One Ever

December 10, 2024 by newhiphopnews

J Cole has been teasing his retirement for years. He’s repeatedly said that he will step back from rapping after he drops The Fall Off. The thing is, every rapper has threatened to retire at one point or another. None of them have. It’s almost a signifier of an artist’s success if they are able to spin a narrative out of a possible retirement. That said, J Cole is really selling the bit. The rapper has launched a podcast looking back on his previous releases. Now, he’s claiming the upcoming Dreamville Fest will be his last.

Dreamville Fest released its 2025 dates via social media. It was a standard rollout, as far as previous announcements have gone. Except for one crucial detail. The unveiling of dates came with confirmation that the fifth Dreamville Fest will be the last one ever. “What a ride it’s been,” the official Twitter account wrote. “We can’t thank y’all enough for the memories we’ve shared.” There was a general sense of confusion over the announcement. Some hoped there was a misunderstanding, or maybe even a technicality that would allow the fest to continue in a different form.

J Cole Continues His Planned Retirement Rollout

J Cole’s manager, Ibrahim Hamad, confirmed this was not the case. Dreamville Fest is done after 2025, plain and simple. “Let’s run it back one last time and have a special weekend in North Caroline,” he tweeted. “Love y’all for real y’all have always supported us and made this weekend special.” Hamad, who co-hosts J Cole’s podcast, also thanked everybody who has made the festival possible. “I love y’all for real y’all don’t know how hard and how much work it takes to bring all this event,” he wrote. “But just know y’all make it more than worth it every year.”

The last Dreamville Fest was not the rousing success many anticipated. J Cole took the stage and apologized for dissing Kendrick Lamar on the song “7 Minute Drill.” He dubbed the song the “wackest sh*t” he’d ever recorded, and promised to take it down from streaming. Fans were genuinely perplexed by the rapper’s decision. J Cole’s admittance of being wrong overshadowed the rest of the festival. J Cole has done a spectacular job of reframing his narrative since the beef died down, however. We hope Dreamville Fest 2025 is the grand finish fans are expecting.

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J. Cole Announces The Dates For The 2025 Dreamville Festival — Which Will Also Be The Last One

December 10, 2024 by newhiphopnews

J. Cole’s Dreamville Festival has been a showcase for both his label’s roster and for the artists who inspire him, but it looks like the next iteration of the festival will be the last. Cole announced the dates for next year’s Dreamville Festival, April 5 and 6, 2025, with the disappointing news that Dreamville will be putting its showcase to rest. Ibrahim Hamad, Dreamville’s co-founder and J. Cole’s manager, wrote on Twitter:

Thank You North Carolina. Thank you to everyone who’s travelled from all over the last 4 years to enjoy our little family reunion. This Festival is something a lot of people have been working very hard to bring you and it’s honestly been a dream come true seeing the impact.

Dreamville Festival was first launched in 2018, with a lineup that included Big Sean, Rapsody, Saba, SZA, and Teyana Taylor in addition to Dreamvillians Ari Lennox, Bas, Cozz, Earthgang, JID, Lute, and Omen. However, even from its inception, the fest was plagued by issues; the first edition was postponed due to Hurricane Florence, and went forward with a new lineup adding 21 Savage, 6lack, Davido, and Nelly.

Plans to bring the festival back in 2020 were again derailed, this time by the COVID-19 pandemic that ravaged the live entertainment industry. The fest returned in 2022, 2023, and earlier this year. Perhaps the plan was always to only run for five years, or maybe the Dreamville crew was over managing the logistical stresses of putting on an annual event of this size. Either way, it’ll be hard to say goodbye, but there’s no doubt the Dreamville festival made an indelible mark on its hometown — and music overall.

J Cole Helps Out Fans Who Missed Out On Tickets To His “2014 Forest Hills Drive” Concert But With A Catch

December 10, 2024 by newhiphopnews

J Cole has really been closing out 2024 in tremendous fashion. This whole Inevitable audio series created an exciting and an intriguing chain reaction of events. Overall, it’s really turned his year around after a bumpy first half. The 10 episodes have led to the North Carolina rapper to officially release all three of his inaugural mixtapes. The Come Up Mixtape Vol. 1, The Warm Up, and Friday Night Lights all hit streaming services on their respective episodes’ release dates. The thrills only continued from there though. The Dreamville head honcho would then go onto announce two special versions of what many dub as his classic album.

With 2014 Forest Hills Drive celebrating its 10th anniversary yesterday, Cole decided to bring out eight bonus tracks. He put them on two different vinyl copies and then combined them on the recent digital release. These were supposed to be a part of the initial double album format of 2014 FHD. So far, fans have been enjoying the heck out them and so have we. Now, to put a bow on everything, J Cole is going to be performing the album at Madison Square Garden.

You Have To Be A Member To Livestream J Cole’s Concert

2014 Forest Hills Drive show at MSG will be live streamed for free on https://t.co/gp0m5SsR4N only for members of the Inevitable community and Chase Cardholders. If you bought the audio series, a vinyl, a cd, or the digital album this stream is for you. See yall on 12/16 pic.twitter.com/uhOiEJk1Sk

— Ibrahim H. (@KingOfQueenz) December 10, 2024

He will be heading there for a one-time show on December 16. So many were trying to buy tickets, 142,000 of them to be exact. However, they sold out very quickly (as you could imagine). There will be a special last-minute sale for an additional 2,014 tickets. They will be made available for $1, according to Uproxx, and the location at which to buy them will be revealed the day of the show.

That will also be pretty much impossible to pull off for most, so Cole and his team are pulling some strings. There will now be a livestream for the concert, however, there is a slight catch. It will be free, but you have to be a Chase cardholder, or a member of the Inevitable community. If you purchased one of the release of the 10th anniversary edition of 2014 FHD, you can also get access to the stream. If you are neither of the first two, you can get the digital copy of the album for $10.00 USD. To watch the concert, it will be on www.inevitable.live only.

[Via] [Via]

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50 Cent Was Immensely Disappointed In J. Cole For Backing Out Of The Drake & Kendrick Lamar Beef

December 10, 2024 by newhiphopnews

At this point, it seems like it’s going to take quite a while for hip-hop fully move on from J. Cole’s decision. Of course, we are referring to him coming to the conclusion that it was time to back out of the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef. With the current aftermath that we are now witnessing, it’s clear that Cole’s decision is paying dividends for him personally. Still, a lot of folks were quite disappointed by the North Carolina MC’s choice as many wanted to see him drop some hot bars. Obviously, he’s got the chops to do it an extremely high level. However, he just couldn’t bring himself to do it for a number of reasons.

Overall, there the camp that’s on the side of the 2014 Forest Hills Drive creator has grown immensely since. They have come to the realization that Cole doesn’t want to lose his industry friends over some rap battle. However, like we said at the beginning, it’s still been a hard pill to swallow for some, including 50 Cent. The 2000s hitmaker made a recent appearance on Big Boy Radio for an hour plus interview to discuss a whole plethora of topics.

50 Cent Wanted To See J. Cole Compete

50 cent says J. Cole disappointed him with how he backed away from the Kendrick Lamar smoke . He says HipHop has always been competitive pic.twitter.com/WxC82NCwBU

— joebuddenclips/fanpage (@Chatnigga101) December 10, 2024

His history with Jay-Z and Diddy as become a major talking point today in the headlines but so has the discourse around J. Cole. While he’s come around to it with time passing by, there’s a part of it that still irks him a little. Big Boy posed to Fif if he could understand the relationship that Cole had/has with Drake and Kendrick. He does, but “because he’s one of the top guys” and there’s a competitive nature about hip-hop, he wanted to see him compete.

“That’s how we gonna find out who really got it,” 50 argued. “I understand the relationship. But I don’t understand why the competitive part in the form, if y’all are brothers like that, then why wouldn’t you compete? Why wouldn’t you understand we are just competing?” Overall, he feels the raw energy is key to the genre and that Cole sort of ducked it in a way.

[Via]

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J. Cole’s ‘Forest Hills Drive 10th Anniversary’ Concert Will Be Live Streamed For Free, But There Is A Catch

December 10, 2024 by newhiphopnews

With J. Cole’s beloved mixtapes finally available on streaming services, the “Port Antonio” rapper has shifted his nostalgic focus to his earlier studio albums.

Next week (December 16), J. Cole will celebrate the anniversary of 2014 Forest Hills Drive project with a one-night-only concert at Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately, not every J. Cole supporter was able to secure a ticket to the forthcoming show (including me). During the concert’s presale, the Ticketmaster queue reached upwards to 142,000 people. While J. Cole’s manager, longtime friend, and Dreamville co-founder Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad promised more tickets are on the way, there is another solution for all interested parties.

Today (December 9), Hamad confirmed that the ‘Forest Hills Drive 10th Anniversary’ show will be livestreamed for free on their Inevitable website. However, there is a catch. “2014 Forest Hills Drive show at MSG will be live streamed for free on [Inevitable],” read the announcement.

The post went on to detail the conditions, stating: “For members of the Inevitable community and Chase Cardholders.”

So, you you previously purchased the Inevitable audio series featuring Cole and Hamad or any of the anniversary releases of 2014 Forest Hills Drive (whether on vinyl, CD, or digital) you are in the clear. If you haven’t and want to access the stream, you might want to head over to the online shop now.

J. Cole’s ‘Forest Hills Drive 10th Anniversary’ concert is scheduled for December 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. Find more information here.

J Cole Fulfills Fans Wishes By Making Special Edition Of “2014 Forest Hills Drive” Widely Available… Sort Of

December 9, 2024 by newhiphopnews

J Cole’s fans can finally rejoice! The digital version of the 10th Anniversary Edition of 2014 Forest Hills Drive is now here! Well, it sort of is as there is a little bit of a twist and a price. Yesterday, the beloved North Carolina rapper shared that everyone could now get their hands on the classic via an Instagram post. “FHD 10 year anniversary edition with 8 unreleased songs. Forest Hills Drive was a double album at one point in time during the finishing process. This anniversary edition contains 8 of the songs that were included in that version. Available digitally tomorrow. 12pm eastern www.inevitable.live Thank you for the love.”

To no one’s surprise, everyone was obviously thrilled for this news. “COLE FANS ARE EATING GOOOOOOOD IN 2024,” one fan wrote. “Shoutout to you for doing this bc im depressed that i missed out on the vinyl ” another pens with much thanks. We are sure a lot of Cole supporters were feeling this way up until today. There were cleverly only 2,014 physical copies of both vinyls with their four respective tracks, as well as its CD. They all sold out extremely fast, so this is a nice gesture on the MC’s part.

J Cole Makes Two Packages For 2014 FHD (10th Anniversary Edition) Available

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However, those looking for it on streaming platforms are going to be a little let down. Time will tell if all of the bonus tracks will make it that far. Instead, the 10th Anniversary Edition is available for digital purchase for $10.00 USD on the EVEN platform. Rappers of all kinds have been using this newer site to share some exclusive music, interviews, and etc. J Cole is hopping on the trend now, and it’s got some feeling a little sour.

Reddit users are complaining about how tedious the download process is, as well as the site having technical difficulties when trying to purchase it. Regardless, Cole didn’t have to do this, so it’s certainly a win for those who weren’t on top of physical drop. Besides, all eight of the extra songs are included instead of just four on each alternate version. If you want to buy 2014 FHD in all of its deluxe glory, click the the “[Via]” link below.

[Via]

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Charlamagne Tha God Claims Telling Drake To Follow J. Cole’s Blueprint After Kendrick Lamar Battle

December 7, 2024 by newhiphopnews

J. Cole’s new Inevitable audio series has revealed many behind-the-scenes secrets of the former Jay-Z protege’s journey to superstardom. One of the biggest reveals by Cole World was Jay-Z asking rival Drake to give the 2014 Forest Hills Drive creator a hit back in the day. Jigga doesn’t appear to be the only person who shares advice similar to that of J. Cole. In the latest episode of The Brilliant Idiots podcast, Charlamagne Tha God claims he told Drake to follow J. Cole’s blueprint following the success of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”

Talking to Andrew Schulz, C Tha God shared that he told Drake to take a vacation and then a different approach with his music after Kendrick Lamar took over the industry. “What I told Drake to do after ‘Not Like Us’ since you didn’t want to engage,” said Charlamagne. “Disappear. Go to Turks and Caicos. Live your life for a little while and let nostalgia bring you back.” He continued with a comparison to J. Cole. He added: “He [Drake] tried to do it when he dropped that ‘100GB’ sh*t, right? But he didn’t do it in a packaged way like Cole did.”

Charlemagne Tha God Says He Told Drake To Go To Turks & Follow J. Cole’s Hit-Making Blueprint.

Charlamagne tha god tells andrew schulz he told drake to follow the j Cole blue print after the Kendrick Lamar beef fall back and let nostalgia kick in and let the fans miss you pic.twitter.com/HfMerrFNNe

— joebuddenclips/fanpage (@Chatnigga101) December 7, 2024

Drake has been recognized by Spotify as the most streamed artist of 2024; however, many have reported that the artist’s popularity has halted since the overwhelming success of Kendrick Lamar’s diss tracks during their rap battle. Last month, Drake told fans he was “unfazed” by the battle as a livestream guest on popular streamer xQc’s platform. Apparently directed by Lamar, Drake said, “I’m here, as you can see, fully intact. Mind, body, and soul. In case you are wondering, right? You need facts to take me out. Fairy tales won’t do it..” While Lamar performance the coveted Super Bowl Halftime Show this February, Drake will be overseas on the newly announced Anita Max Win Tour.

As fans patiently await J. Cole’s presumed final album, The Falloff. With the release of The Come Up, his first mixtape, and the 10th anniversary of 2014 Forest Hills Drive, he has provided fans with nostalgia. Cole’s upcoming Madison Square Garden tribute concert secured a second date after the first sold out in a matter of minutes last week. The show takes fans back to the artist’s popular Dollar And A Dream days when concertgoers were offered the opportunity to see a full show for only a dollar.

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J Cole Apologized To This NBA Champion For Dissing Him Over A Decade Ago

December 7, 2024 by newhiphopnews

J Cole is indulging in a lot of nostalgia these days alongside his fans. He released new versions of 2014 Forest Hills Drive with bonus tracks for its tenth anniversary, put his early mixtapes on streaming for the first time, and even launched an audio series titled Inevitable going over his career. But this means that the North Carolina rapper also reflected on some previous mistakes, which has apparently been a months-long process. Moreover, former NBA player Shane Battier recently revealed on his podcast that Cole actually apologized to him earlier in 2024 (specifically this summer) for dissing him on the Cole World: The Sideline Story track “Rise and Shine.”

“We in two different games, you playing patty cake / Brother you’re lame, you’re Shane Battier,” J. Cole rapped on the cut 13 years ago. For those unaware, Cole is a big supporter of his UNC Tar Heels, the NCAA basketball team whose rivals are Duke. Shane Battier played for Duke, and the Miami Heat champion explained on his Glue Guys podcast that he just saw this as a stray shot from a passionate sports fan.

Shane Batter Recalls J Cole Apologizing To Him

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But then, Shane Battier told the story about how, one day, he was eating dinner in Miami when a waiter told him that J. Cole was there and wanted to apologize to him. “I’m like, ‘Who’s bulls**tting me here?’” Battier joked. “Like, there’s someone yanking my chain. Like, ‘Ha ha, very funny. I get it, guys. I’m lame.’ And, sure enough, I go around the corner and J. Cole was way bigger than I thought in real life. Basketball, like, 6’5″, he’s a big dude. And he’s like, ‘Hey man, I was praying for this moment, that we would have this moment to where I could say, you know what, man, my bad, I was young.’”

Of course, many hip-hop fans out there probably can’t hear this story without thinking about J. Cole’s apology to Kendrick Lamar for dissing him earlier this year. But it just goes to show how big Cole’s heart can get, even when he doesn’t need to clarify a 13-year-old diss. Props to Shane Battier for respecting the mutual UNC/Duke hate and taking it like a champ!

[via]

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J Cole May Bring You To Tears With “2014 Forest Hills Drive” Bonus Track “Die Together”

December 7, 2024 by newhiphopnews

The year didn’t get off to the strongest of starts for J Cole this year. However, the backend is a completely different story. Over these past couple of weeks, he’s been giving his fans some incredible stories through his Inevitable audio platform. They have very detailed accounts of the first few years of his career and the projects he dropped within that span. But what’s more is that he’s officially shared some music and mixtapes that have been coveted for so long. His first three mixtapes are out now on streaming, and so are some leftovers from the 2014 Forest Hills Drive era.

It’s all to commemorate the album’s 10-year anniversary, which will be on December 9. They were available on two exclusive (and now sold out) physical variants of the album which each had 2,014 units available. There are eight in total and four of them are finding their way onto YouTube thanks to customers receiving the blue alternate cover. “Home Soon,” “Die Together,” “Judgment Day,” and “Winter Wonderland” are in the first batch. The second is sticking out to fans and us the most thanks to its possible connection to 4 Your Eyez Only. He appears to rapping from the perspective of his late friend who refers to as James McMillian, Jr. It’s an amazing storytelling piece, and one that most likely inspired that project. Fair warning: this one may make you cry a little.

“Die Together” – J Cole

Quotable Lyrics:

A quarter pounder get a n**** blown to smithereens (F*** you say, n****?)
My mama askеd me, “What that drama ’bout?”, and I don’t lie
I said, “A little bit of monеy and a lotta pride”
I swear to God, I cry when I look in my daughter eye
I’m thinkin’ if I die tonight, I never taught her how to ride a bike
And how to fight if n****s clownin’ on her

[Via]

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J Cole Releases “2014 Forest Hills Drive” Bonus Tracks And Fans Are Loving Them

December 7, 2024 by newhiphopnews

J Cole is closing out his 2024 with a big bang, as he released two deluxe physical versions of his 2014 classic 2014 Forest Hills Drive for its ten-year anniversary. Both of them contain four bonus tracks each, and the blue variant arrived at select fans’ doorsteps this weekend. From what people with that exclusive sneak peek have said, they are very compelling storytelling tracks that show off the North Carolina rapper’s incredible skills. These tracks are “Die Together” – which some fans think parallels the theme of 4 Your Eyez Only – “Home Soon,” “Judgement Day,” and “Winter Wonderland.” As for the tracks on the other version, they are “Keep Heaven Dancing,” “Miles,” “Black Man In Hollywood,” and “Obviously.”

Hopefully they all land on streaming services soon, as we’re very excited to hear what else J. Cole had in the vault for the 2014 Forest Hills Drive era. But this isn’t all that he did to treat fans at the end of 2024, as he also released his mixtapes on streaming for the first time late this year. Specifically, fans can now enjoy The Come-Up Mixtape Vol. 1, The Warm-Up, and Friday Night Lights on their preferred DSP.

J Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive Deluxe Is Starting To Arrive

In addition, J. Cole launched his Inevitable audio series in which he goes over his career with his manager and Dreamville cofounder, Ibrahim Hamad. Their most recent episode had Cole talking about Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d. city and the pressure and inspiration it provoked in him when it released. “When Kendrick’s album dropped, the journey got harder, the mountain got steeper. Because similar to when [So Far Gone] dropped, where it was like, ‘Oh s**t, there’s another person out there that has the same ambitions as me,’ it happened like that with Kendrick.”

Not only that, but J. Cole even played some unreleased collabs with Kendrick Lamar during select Inevitable episodes, which fans obviously loved to hear. While their relationship is complex these days, all that admiration, care, respect, and collaboration balances all that out. In any case, we can’t wait to check out these bonus 2014 Forest Hills Drive tracks and see what Cole’s got in store next year.

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