J. Cole

J. Cole, Travis Scott, And 50 Cent Sign On As Headliners For Rolling Loud’s New York Festival

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After being shut for more than a year, some of the biggest musical festivals are preparing for a strong return this year. But few will be able to match the energy Rolling Loud, as the platform just announced its third festival for the year. The Miami-born showcase will come to New York in the fall for a bout headlined by J. Cole, Travis Scott, and 50 Cent.

Out of the three acts, Cole is the only one who’s recently dropped a project, having released The Off-Season last month. Scott could have new music on the way, with his upcoming album, rumored to be titled Utopia, in the works. 50 Cent getting the headliner spot gives the New York rap legend an opportunity to put on a great show for his hometown.

Rolling Loud’s New York festival, which takes place during the weekend of October 28-30, will also feature a special guest performance from the state’s own Bobby Shmurda, who was released from prison earlier this year after spending almost seven years behind bars. Lil Uzi Vert, Gunna, Lil Baby, Roddy Ricch, Lil Durk, Jack Harlow, Rick Ross, Gucci Mane, Polo G, Moneybagg Yo, Joey Badass, Playboi Carti, Wale, Young Dolph, Griselda Records, and many more will also hit its New York stage.

Prior to the show, J. Cole is set to headline Rolling Loud’s Los Angeles festival while Travis Scott signed on as a headliner for its Miami festival.

You can check out the full lineup in the post above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

J. Cole Lives A New Yorker’s Lifestyle In New Music Video

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North Carolina rapper J. Cole is very, very, very far from his Southern roots in his new “Punchin’ the Clock” music video. The rap heavyweight comes through with a stunning visual from his newly released The Off-Season album. The rap heavyweight starts off with a dark and gloomy shot from New York City. The Manhattan […]

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J. Cole Is On The Move In His Cloudy ‘Punchin’ The Clock’ Video

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Fresh off the release of his album The Off-Season, J. Cole actually is in the off-season as he has just finished up his contract playing pro basketball in Africa. Now pivoting focus back to his music, Cole drops a visual to his brief track “Punchin The Clock.”

Much like his previous “Applying Pressure” visual, “Punchin’ The Clock” was directed by Scott Lazer and pays homage to New York City. This time, it shows the very-NYC act of attempting to catch a yellow cab. Once Cole finally secures a ride, he fires off verses about getting back into the swing of things.

The song’s intro and outro is a audio clip of Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard, who reflects on the importance of putting in hard work in the off-season in order for it to pay off later, clearly a metaphor for Cole’s album as a whole. “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,” Lillard says at the song’s close. “You know, you crash, and when you really put the time in and whether people see it, or whether people know it or not, you know, it always come to light.”

Watch J. Cole’s “Punchin’ The Clock” video above.

The Off-Season is out now via Dreamville. Get it here.

Best Hip-Hop Songs With No Hooks

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No hooks, just fire bars. Continue reading…

J. Cole Speaks On Sudden Departure From Rwanda Patriots

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North Carolina rapper J. Cole is keeping it real, no matter how painful the truth is. The hip-hop star posted a sincere message to his followers through social media, speaking on his short-lived basketball career in Africa. J. Cole Acknowledges Basketball Inexperience Following the recent news Cole was leaving the Rwanda Patriots basketball team, Cole […]

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J. Cole’s Taking His Talent To California W/ Kid Cudi + Future

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Dreamville boss J. Cole is gearing up for a hot winter. The hip-hop star headlines a heavy hip-hop line-up of talent set to take on the Rolling Loud California line-up three seasons from now. J. Cole’s Taking His Talent To California North Carolina’s very own headlines a huge Saturday, December 11 line-up also consisting of […]

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J. Cole Reflects On Playing Pro Basketball In Africa: ‘I Plan To Get Better’

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After playing a few games with the Rwanda Patriots of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), J. Cole has left the team and returned home. While he didn’t exactly set the world on fire with his on-court contributions, he got to play basketball on a professional level, which is more than most lovers of the game can say. Now that Cole is back home, he has taken some time to reflect on the experience.

In an Instagram post from last night, Cole wrote:

“So many thank you’s are due. Thank you to @thebal and to @patriotsbbc for the opportunity. Thank you to my teammates, the coaches and staff for treating me like family. I learned so much in the few weeks we were together. Congrats on that win tonight and good luck next game. Thank you to @puma for supporting a dream from day 1, and getting me to Rwanda and back safely via Puma jet.

Thank you to the entire country of Rwanda and to the city of Kigali for hosting us. BEAUTIFUL land with BEAUTIFUL people. To anyone considering visiting or moving to the continent, from everything I saw and heard, I would recommend you consider Kigali and Rwanda in general. Thank you to everybody that had kind words for me despite my inexperience. I plan to get better.”

He also wrote a bit more about his basketball experience in another post about his new Puma RS Dreamer sneaker, saying, “The first drop will have a special place in my heart forever, for obvious reasons. These are the ones I took the scariest leap in. That nervous feeling I had playing under the whistle for the first time is the same feeling I had moving to New York without knowing anybody there. I say all that to say, Despite the fear we have to choose to jump, or be forced to live with regret.”

Check out Cole’s posts below.

J. Cole, Kid Cudi, And Future Will Headline Rolling Loud’s Los Angeles Festival

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J. Cole // Philip Cosores

After music lovers from all over were deprived of live show experiences thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the industry is back in full swing as many of the big-name festivals have announced the lineups for their respective showcases. The latest concert to debut their cast of performers to fans is Rolling Loud, as they announced the lineup for the Los Angeles iteration of their summer festival series. J. Cole, Kid Cudi, and Future have all signed on to headline the festival, and the trio has plenty of music to perform live in front of a large group of fans for the first time.

Cole and Cudi’s set will most likely feature a heavy selection of songs from their respective new albums, The Off-Season and Man On The Moon III: The Chosen. As for Future, the Atlanta rapper has not one, but two albums to showcase thanks to Pluto X Baby Pluto, his joint album with Lil Uzi Vert, and High Off Life.

As expected, the rest of the lineup for Rolling Loud’s Los Angeles festival includes some of the biggest names in music. Well-established names like Wiz Khalifa, Playboi Carti, Moneybagg Yo, Lil Durk, Polo G, Tyga, Drakeo The Ruler, Rod Wave, Lil Tjay, Jack Harlow, and Ski Mask The Slump God can be found among the cast. In addition to that, up-and-coming acts like Pooh Shiesty, Coi Leray, Blxst, Bino Rideaux, 42 Dugg, Morray, $NOT, and Latto will also perform.

This announcement comes after Rolling shared their lineup for their first festival of the year in Miami. There, Travis Scott, ASAP Rocky, and Post Malone will serve as headliners.

You can check out the full lineup in the post above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Nicki Minaj Reacts To A Theoretical Mount Rushmore Of 2010s Rap That She’s Not On: ‘Wow’

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“The Mount Rushmore of [blank]” has become a common framework people like to use to establish who are the best or most important figures of a certain field. For example, The Rock once shared his list of people who would be on his personal Mount Rushmore of wrestling. Now there’s a Mount Rushmore of 2010s rap making the rounds, and Nicki Minaj (who was not included on it) has some thoughts… or rather, one concise but open-ended one.

This afternoon, the Twitter account for Spotify’s popular RapCaviar playlist shared a rendering of a 2010s rap Mount Rushmore, and the graphic features Drake, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, and one blank spot. The tweet asks, “Who takes the fourth spot on the Mount Rushmore of the 2010s?” Minaj saw that list and had a simple response, replying on Twitter, “Wow.”

Of course, “wow” could mean a lot of things. Perhaps Minaj is upset that she wasn’t one of the initial three rappers chosen. Aside from her own exclusion, maybe she doesn’t agree with RapCaviar’s picks. Or, maybe seeing Drake, Lamar, and Cole all together gave her perspective on how great hip-hop was in the 2010s and she was responding to that with awe. Whatever the case, the image certainly got a reaction out of Minaj.

It’s not hard to make a case for Minaj to appear on this Mount Rushmore. Her four studio albums (all released in the 2010s) have all been certified Platinum at least once, her first two topped the Billboard 200 chart, and her most recent two achieved chart peaks at No. 2. During the decade, between her own songs and featured appearances, she had 16 top-10 singles, including top-3 highlights like “Super Bass” and “Anaconda.” She also racked up ten Grammy nominations during the 2010s and has been dubbed by many as the “queen of rap.”

J. Cole Has Reportedly Completed His Basketball Contract And Will Return To The US

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J. Cole — who got to live his dream of professionally playing basketball, if only for a little while — has reportedly completed the terms of his contract with the BAL’s Rwanda Patriots, according to ESPN’s Marc Spears, who reported the news on Twitter. “Source confirms rapper J. Cole of the Rwanda Patriots BBC has completed his contractual obligation to the Basketball Africa League and has departed from Rwanda due to a ‘family obligation,’” he wrote. “J. Cole had five points, three assists, and five rebounds in three games.”

It was Spears who initially announced the surprise signing ahead of the release of Cole’s new album The Off-Season, revealing that the rapper had agreed to a contract for three-to-six games in the newly formed international league. Cole’s manager and business partner Ib Hamad later noted that the timing was purely coincidental due to both the album release and the start of the Basketball Africa League being pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic. Cole’s contract was likely scheduled to last at least the duration of the group stage play, with the additional three games taking place during the tournament contingent on his performance.

Not everyone appreciated having the rap star around, however. Terrell Stoglin, the leading scorer for Morocco’s AS Salé, called Cole’s opportunity “disrespectful to the ones who sacrificed their whole lives for this” and felt “he took someone’s job that deserves it.” Although Rick Ross came to Cole’s defense, it appears to be a moot point now; Cole’s basketball career is, for the moment, over.