J. Cole just gave fans the perfect birthday gift. The Fayetteville rapper dropped four brand-new freestyles Tuesday in a surprise project called Birthday Blizzard ’26.
Cole announced the drop on X and directed fans to thefalloff.com to grab the project. The site offers five tracks total for just $1, but fans can pay whatever they want, including nothing.
The timing couldn’t be more perfect. Cole’s long-awaited album The Fall Off drops February 6, and these freestyles serve as another taste of what’s coming.
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
But Cole didn’t just deliver bars. He addressed the elephant in the room: his 2024 apology to Kendrick Lamar after their brief beef.
“I used to be top, see, the apology dropped me way out of the top 3,” Cole raps on one track. “No problem, I’m probably my best when they doubt me.”
The North Carolina native continued reflecting on his controversial decision.
“The top ain’t really what I thought it would be, 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 them again and tell them all to keep up.”
Cole’s comments reference his “7 Minute Drill” diss track aimed at Lamar in 2024.
The song called Kendrick’s music boring, but it didn’t throw heavy punches. Days later, Cole took the stage at his Dreamville Festival to publicly apologize.
“That was the lamest, goofiest s###,” Cole said during his festival apology. “I pray that god will line me back up on my purpose and my path, I pray that my n#### didn’t feel no way.”
The apology came after Lamar’s beef with Drake dominated headlines throughout 2024. J. Cole initially jumped into the fray but quickly backed out, leaving fans divided about his decision.
Birthday Blizzard ’26 arrives as anticipation peaks for The Fall Off.
Earlier this month, Cole released “Disc 2 – Track 2,” a striking song where he raps about his life in reverse. The accompanying video showed Cole describing his death, then working backward to his birth.
The song took an estimated 12 hours to write and showcases Cole’s storytelling abilities.
Cole has described The Fall Off as music “handcrafted” over 10 years. The album could potentially be his last, based on comments he made in a 2021 SLAM interview.
“I’m super comfortable with the potential of being done with this s###,” Cole said at the time. “But I’m never going to say, ‘Oh, this is my last album.’ Because I never know how I’m going to feel two years, three years, four years down the line.”
The Fall Off will follow Cole’s recent projects Might Delete Later and The Off-Season.
The album represents the culmination of Cole’s artistic journey and his attempt to cement his legacy in Hip-Hop.
DJ Clue hosts Birthday Blizzard ’26, adding his signature touch to the project.
The collaboration brings back memories of classic mixtape culture, where DJs played crucial roles in breaking new music.
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