J. Cole

J. Cole Works Out With The Lakers’ Talen Horton-Tucker After Completing His BAL Contract

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Although J. Cole’s basketball career is effectively over — for the time being, at least — that doesn’t mean he isn’t staying ready should he be bitten by the competition bug again. Legendary trainer Phil Handy (who goes by @94feetofgame on Twitter) posted evidence of the rapper turned hooper’s commitment to the grind, a video showing off one of the workouts Handy is putting him through alongside one of the trainer’s more successful clients, Lakers player Talen Horton-Tucker, who will begin his third season in October.

The #passion is real, the #work is real, the love for the #game is real and @JColeNC is a real student of the game,” Handy wrote. “Pulled up for a couple of days and got some work in with @Thortontucker … got out of his comfort zone and got better.”

Cole has been open about his basketball dreams since early in his career, using basketball imagery throughout his album artwork and promotions. In 2020, that interest kicked into high gear with the release of Cole’s basketball shoes with Puma. Then, ahead of his most recent album The Off-Season, he announced that he’d be joining the Rwanda Patriots of the newly formed Basketball Africa League. After three games, he completed the terms of his contract and returned home to the US, but that doesn’t mean he’s completely done playing just yet.

Watch the video of J. Cole’s workout with the Lakers’ Talen Horton-Tucker above.

J. Cole Announces His ‘The Off-Season’ Tour With 21 Savage And Morray

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J. Cole may have found an unusual way to promote his new album The Off-Season by playing pro basketball in Africa, and a successful one at that. The album dominated the Billboard charts, debuting at No. 1 on the albums chart with the year’s highest streaming year so far. Sometimes, though, the old ways are the best, so he’s also taking the show on the road this fall with The Off-Season Tour featuring two of the album’s guest rappers, 21 Savage and Morray.

The tour will hit 17 cities beginning in September with Miami, FL, and concluding in October at LA’s The Forum. Tickets go on sale beginning Friday, June 25 at 10 AM local time. You can check Dreamville.com for more information. See the full list of stops and dates below.

https://twitter.com/JColeNC/status/1407337403493330951/

9/24 – Miami, FL @ FTX Arena*^
9/25 – Orlando, FL @ Amway Center*^
9/27 – Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena^
9/28 – Greensboro, NC @ Greensboro Coliseum Complex*^
9/29 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center*^
10/1 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden*^
10/2 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center*^
10/4 – Washington DC @ Capital One Arena*^
10/5 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena*^
10/7 – Chicago, IL @ United Center*^
10/10 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center*^
10/11 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Arena*^
10/14 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena*^
10/16 – Las Vegas @ MGM Grand Garden Arena*^
10/17 – Phoenix, AZ @ Phoenix Suns Arena*^
10/20 – Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena*^
10/21 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum*^

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Saweetie Names Her Favorite J. Cole And Nicki Minaj Songs

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Saweetie is still aiming for a summertime release for her long-awaited debut album, Pretty B*tch Music, and continued her seemingly everlasting media tour with a cover story for Complex and an appearance on the outlet’s interview show GOAT Talk. In the latter, she named her favorite culinary concoctions (for which she’s garnered almost as much attention as her music), as well as her favorite songs from her prime influences, J. Cole and Nicki Minaj.

Long before she’d released her breakout single “ICY GRL” and become a household name, Saweetie rapped for J. Cole outside one of his shows, receiving a bit of encouragement from the older rapper. When asked which of his songs is his greatest of all time, Saweetie chose “Cost Me A Lot” from Cole’s 2010 mixtape Friday Night Lights. In the interview for the cover story, she’s asked whether she’d want to collaborate with her underground hero and replies in the affirmative… with one caveat. “On production, yes,” she says.

When it comes to her favorite Nicki Minaj song, Saweetie can’t settle on just one. “I feel like we have to go into two different libraries,” she argues. “There’s mixtape Nicki and mainstream Nicki… For mixtape Nicki, ‘Itty Bitty Piggy‘ [from 2009 mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty] is the obvious choice, but a song I just loved from the depths of my soul was [Lil Wayne-featuring 2008 Sucka Free cut] ‘Higher Than A Kite.’” Saweetie picks “I Wanna Be With You” from DJ Khaled’s 2013 album Suffering From Success because of the velocity Nicki’s flow reaches.

Watch Saweetie reveal her “GOATs” in the latest episode of GOAT Talk above.

Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

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