J. Cole Drops Surprise 'Birthday Blizzard '26' EP, Hints at Kendrick Lamar Feud Reflection

Just hours before his 41st birthday, J. Cole unleashed Birthday Blizzard ’26, a four-track freestyle collection hosted by DJ Clue on Tuesday, January 27th. The EP is available for purchase on Cole’s website for a minimum of $1.

The surprise drop includes “Bronx Zoo Freestyle,” “Golden Goose,” “Winter Storm,” and “99 Build Freestyle.”

One standout freestyle features Cole rhyming over the iconic Stevie J-produced instrumental from Diddy’s “Victory,” which featured The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes.

On another track, Cole appears to reflect on his apology to Kendrick Lamar and his decision to step back from their brief feud in April 2024. He had initially dissed K. Dot on “7 Minute Drill,” a track from the Might Delete Later mixtape, but subsequently removed it from streaming services and publicly apologized to Lamar during his Dreamville Festival.

“I used to be top, see, the apology dropped me way out of the top three, no problem, I’m probably my best when they doubt me,” Cole raps. “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.”

Birthday Blizzard ’26 serves as a teaser for fans eagerly awaiting Cole’s highly anticipated album, The Fall-Off, slated for release on February 6th.

Earlier in January, when announcing the LP, Cole also dropped the single “Disc 2 Track 2,” accompanied by a music video, where he cleverly rapped his life story in reverse.

J. Cole’s previous album, The Off-Season, released in May 2021, debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart with 282,000 equivalent album units sold.

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