J. Cole has released a brand new EP out of the blue, confirming rumors that he had more than just a new album on deck.
Hosted by mixtape kingpin DJ Clue, Birthday Blizzard ’26 features four fiery freestyles from the Fayeteville rapper who turned 40 years old on Wednesday (January 28).
Inspired by the rugged, no-frills energy of ’90s and ’00s New York hip-hop, the EP finds Cole flexing his razor-sharp rhymes over classic beats like Biggie‘s “Who Shot Ya?,” Diddy‘s “Victory” and The LOX‘s “Money, Power & Respect.”
Birthday Blizzard ’26 is not just a display of impressive penmanship, though; Jermaine Cole gets plenty off his chest on the brief but braggadocious project.
On the opening track “Bronx Zoo Freestyle,” the Dreamville leader addresses the backlash to his apology to Kendrick Lamar in 2024 following their brief back-and-forth on “Like That” and “7 Minute Drill.”
“I used to be top seed / The apology dropped me way out of the top three / No problem, I’m probably my best when they doubt me / Watch me,” he raps.
Cole also says: “The top ain’t really what I thought it would be / And so I jumped off and landed back at the bottom / And restarted at a level where I wasn’t regarded as much / Just to climb past ’em again and tell ’em all to keep up.”
Birthday Blizzard '26. hosted by DJ Clue? 🥶🥶🥶
4 new freestyles available now on https://t.co/NS7VjMFmQs pic.twitter.com/2N7JoHMtp6— J. Cole (@JColeNC) January 28, 2026
“Golden Goose Freestyle,” which borrows Black Rob and The LOX’s “Can I Live” instrumental, hears the North Carolina native weighing in on some of the (alleged) shenanigans that have plagued the rap industry in recent years.
“A lot of rappers make dough then be prone to lose it / For crumbs, dumb n*ggas sold their soul to Lucian,” he spits, referencing the Universal Music Group boss Lucian Grainge. “Universal distribution but I own the music / Best n*gga still breathing, leaving no confusion.”
He also sets his sights on ghostwriting and streaming bots, rapping: “N*ggas cheating and I won’t excuse it / If I said it then I wrote it, stupid” before adding: “If the streams say you’re winning, why your tours is losing? / When the math ain’t mathing, of course you’re juicing / That means the bots is boosting, cut the tough guy image it is not conducive to breathing.”
Elsewhere, on “99 Build Freestyle,” J. Cole shows major love to his Dreamville signee and occasional collaborator JID, who is coming off a banner year thanks to his critically-acclaimed, Grammy-nominated album God Does Like Ugly.
“If hip-hop is back, JID should chart platinum / Anything less than that it means y’all capping,” he declares. (It’s worth noting that the Atlanta rapper has racked up a string of platinum and multi-platinum plaques in his career, albeit for his singles and big-name collaborations.)
Birthday Blizzard ’26 is exclusively available to purchase at J. Cole’s website, TheFallOff.com, where fans can stream and download a copy for a minumum of $1.
The quickfire project serves as a warm-up for Cole’s long-awaited final album The Fall-Off, which is set to arrive on February 6.
He dissing Kendrick calling him out for the gossip
Everyone should diss Cole for being fake he and his passive aggressiveness his white mom raised him her way
Drake should diss Cole
Whiteboy battle
Corny vs corny
It’s clear JCole uses burners on this website fem boy think he him
During the Kendrick beef JID said he wasn’t Dreamville bro fake just like Cole label full of Snakes
Its just him and JID guess so
This clown is so full of himself bro is signed to major labels too he going to get sued by Lucian isn’t he?
Nah the zionists will let them talk now controlled op. Look at Dave Chappelle and Hasan Piker no ADL lawsuit.
Ari not reeling anyone in
JID had no year no one listens to that. Last year was YoungBoys year 225, More Leaks, MASA, Deshawn, and the tour. Yeat had a big year with the EP and Uzi closed out the year. Tecca had a solid release. No one was considering JID. You guys set in your narrative does Ebro run this site? Carti got snubbed at the Grammys no article on that.
Kevin Gates, Lil Wayne, Lil Baby, Ken Carson, Jackboys 2, Playboi Carti, Destroy Lonely, all had projects last year remembered no one was listening to JID.
No one listens to Cole besides ladies mix in sensitive men too
All those names either fell off, were wack, or industry plants who lost their pushes.
He talking about gossip. He partakes in that too shading rappers like what is he talking about? He dissed Kendrick then apologized then made Grippy. Cole fans want you to forget that. Also he has beef with YoungBoy.
Drake diss JCole and maybe people might stop saying your gay
They won’t stop calling me gay either. I just embrace it like any Drake fan would.
JCole sold his soul to Jay Z he was signed to RocNation and just like Drake his first album was produced by Ye. Bro is such a liar talking about he is somehow superior go ride your bike!
Free Diddy he can expose what he did to Cole
Diddy would only want to expose asshole so he can poke them. Leave him in prison where he belongs. He’s free to be himself in there.
1st off Happy Born day to Ma duke (resting in Paradise)Baby!!!,Rakim,J.Cole,Rozay,
N.C. Stand Up.Cole due Yo thang kid much ✊🏾
I think Lil Yatchy is better anyways
Anonymous is a 🏠 🅾️
cole is one of the most lyrically talented artists of all time, and he is claiming JID should be going platinum by his merit, which is absolutely true, TFS is one of the albums of the decade, and GDLU is almost just as good
Trash!
It’s how I like my men too. Trash
Y’all let these grifters come in here white boys Eminem, Drake, JCole, Cali boys like Tyler and Kenny the same then Meg the white lover, Cardi b who is not black she Indian Caribbean and Hispanic pretending to be black, Glorilla her cousin therefore mixed too, Latto white, that Ian guy, Jack Harlowe, Central Cee, the Brit’s basically all white too, and Yeat too
I love drifters and think Lil Uzi is the greatest rapper ever. I keep a Glock in my purse too.
Snake cole trash! DaBaby dropped! Way better! Don Toliver dropped too.
I drop the soap all the time. Come get boys.