s o u t h,” which refers to driving south on I-95, the interstate between the two, and it ends with “h u n g e r. However, the LP also seems to generally be about Cole’s path between his two homes, Fayetteville, North Carolina and Queens, New York. It also has a direct juxtaposition to what a basketball player would experience in their off-seasons. This is Cole’s first solo album since 2013’s Born Sinner to contain officially credited features.Ĭonceptually, The Off-Season is inspired by Cole regaining his passion for rapping and the work ethic that it took to do so between 2018 and its 2021 release. Upon the album’s release, it was unveiled that it featured vocal contributions from 21 Savage, Bas, Morray, 6LACK, Cam'ron, and Lil Baby, amongst others. On the 13th, eight hours before its release, Cole revealed the album’s tracklist and producer list. In his cover interview, Cole spoke on a few aspects of his life and explained the concepts of both this LP and its eventual successor, The Fall Off. On the 11th, Cole was officially unveiled as the first solo artist to grace the cover of SLAM Magazine. This seemed to be the intentional culmination of Cole’s storied work on developing a basketball career, so his reignited journey in the sport correlates directly to the idea and concept of The Off-Season. Later that day, it was announced that Cole had signed a deal to play with Rwanda’s Patriots BBC in the Basketball Africa League. On May 7, Cole released the album’s second single, “i n t e r l u d e.” Three days later, he premiered Applying Pressure: The Off-Season, a succinct documentary about the album’s creative process and concept. On May 4, Cole revealed the release date and artwork for The Off-Season. On April 28, 2021, Bas made a post alleging that Cole had completed The Off-Season and that it would be released in “two weeks.” Two days later, Cole posted on his Instagram story that he had “just rode through the city to The Off-Season,” both proclaiming his excitement and confirming the legitimacy of Bas’ post. After this album, the calendar lists It’s a Boy and the ultimate release of The Fall Off. On December 29, 2020, Cole reignited the desire for The Off-Season when he posted a schedule of what he deemed “The Fall Off Era.” The calendar begins with two completed events, Cole’s famous feature run and Revenge of the Dreamers III, and they are followed by The Off-Season. b a c k.” While they both were intended to be the lead singles to The Fall Off, it was revealed days before The Off-Season’s release that the latter would appear on the LP, therefore making “t h e. Cole released Lewis Street, a two-track release that included “Lion King on Ice” and “t h e. The artwork for “Album of the Year” also contained references to The Off-Season.Ĭole continued to tease the album on November 9, 2018, when he created a Spotify playlist called “Where the fuck is The Off Season,” which, at the time, included many of his 2018 features and a few solo songs (it has been constantly updated). The beginning of the “Album of the Year” music video references The Off-Season: The Off Season coming soon… All roads lead to The Fall Off In both the SoundCloud and music video description, Cole writes: Its release doubled as the announcement of the LP. On August 7, 2018, Cole released a freestyle titled “Album of the Year,” as a promotional single for the album. The LP is named after the common sports term, “off-season,” during which an athlete has a break from the regular season but is still honing their skills and improving their game. Cole’s sixth studio album and his first release of 2021. To finish our voyage of discovery, ‘Iguazu Express’ takes the listener into the closing straits with a spine-shaking, deep house groove while ‘By The Red Lake’ berths us at our home port with sparkling keys, evocative vibrations and squelching waves of joy.The Off-Season is J. The syncopated beatdown-ish funk of ‘Viejo Loco’, the blippy space-opera of ‘Flipside Of Time’ and the industrial, Carpenter-esqe filmscore of ‘Tunguska’ close the harder, more percussive mid-section of the album. From the opening off-beat ambience of ‘Kiss Off’ and ‘Baby - Comet - Face’, the joyful, morning glow of ‘Fever Beach’ and the dusky, dubby ‘Cambio’ we are taken to the swinging, jacking, 303-drenched peaks of ‘Leaving The Fiction’ and ‘Chevere’ towards the trotting Shaolin funk of ‘Die Pferden’. Album concepts are hard to shape with regards to electronic dance music, but Aera has sequenced his debut just right. Drawing upon influences as diverse as German krautrock, Detroit machine funk, South American ethnic percussion and UK bass music, Offseason Traveller takes the listener on an exploration through the ever active imagination of Aera.