The Alchemist has set the Hip Hop world abuzz after answering — or refusing to answer — a question about working with J. Cole.
On Saturday (February 24), the producer answered a query from a fan on X, formerly known as Twitter: “is j cole and alchemist ever gonna be a thing[?]”
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The Alchemist replied with a series of zipper-mouth face emojis, seemingly indicating that he couldn’t discuss it.
The pair previously worked together on Benny The Butcher‘s “Johnny P’s Caddy,” as well as B.o.B‘s “Gladiators” back in 2010.
The cryptic response set off a ton of excited speculation in the replies. Among the most popular guesses was that The Alchemist would have a track on Cole’s long-anticipated next album The Fall Off.
At the beginning of this month, the North Carolina rhymer updated fans on the status of the project during a concert in Tampa, Florida.
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“Right now, I’m at the tail end of working on this album I’ve been working on for a long time,” he said during the opening night of his It’s All a Blur – Big as the What? tour with Drake. “It’s called The Fall Off.”
Cole’s longtime manager Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad previously stoked the flames by tweeting about The Fall Off being his choice of an album he’d most want to see Cole perform on tour front-to-back.
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Just last week, J. Cole himself teased the upcoming project in a new song.
Released through a burner account on Instagram, the video is reminiscent of the 2000s-era Smack DVD series that gave fans a raw inside look at what goes on behind the scenes with their favorite rappers.
The clip shows Cole backstage on his current tour with Drake, as well as in a studio session with Tay Keith, chopping it up with Lil Durk and more.
Towards the end, Cole previews a new song and sets the tone with the opening bars, rapping: “I said I was finished but I want another two summers/ Hall of Famer hungrier than all the newcomers.”
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The Alchemist has been working with a number of other big names lately. Recently, a snippet of a track he worked on with Kanye West and Freddie Gibbs leaked online.
The clip, which initially surfaced on Discord, features West singing: “Come on, come on, before the street lights” before Gibbs begins to rap about baby mama drama over a recognizably Alchemist beat laced with sprinkling pianos.
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The veteran producer was also spotted in the studio with Kid Cudi in January, a few months after they teased doing a full album together. The pair’s first and (so far) only collaboration was “Therapy” back in 2009.
