He’s an incredible photographer, director, and cinematographer. We reached out to Scott, and he recommended a production team that we got, and I reached out to a close friend of mine who is an incredible photographer that I’ve worked with in my years in advertising named Justin Francis. We can’t fly him somewhere to shoot it, so we’re going to shoot close to home. Basically, Ib had an idea that he wanted me to flesh out, and usually that process-the vetting, figuring out who we’re going to use-takes some time, but because we didn’t have any time I knew I had to lean on things that I trust. We wanted something that was a little more encompassing of the whole feel of the album, so because of that, we had to go back again. We flew down to North Carolina and went through a few different renditions of creative and it got down to where the album was creatively, sonically, and the overall tone. We finished the album artwork two weeks before we announced it. The artwork shows Cole standing in front of a basketball hoop on fire, referencing the basketball theme on the covers of his mixtapes The Warm Up (2009) and Friday Night Lights (2010), and debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story (2011). The cover art was organized by Dreamville's creative director Felton Brown and shot in North Carolina by Justin Francis. He produces, he mixes he's super involved he's just that guy who's very grounded when it comes to the creation of the entire record, which is dope because when I create with him, he's very much directing where he wants the record to go." Artwork and title He writes all of his own music, writes all of the songs. So he gave me a bunch of ideas and pointers for what he wanted to do." When asked about Cole's creative mindset for the mixtape, he said: "Cole is tapped into every aspect of the creation of the record. He spoke on producing for Cole in an interview saying, "Cole is very much a producer, so he likes to direct where the music is going as far as arrangement, or the bounce, or the feeling that he wants to have. Recording and production Īs one of the executive producers of the album, T-Minus began producing with Cole in 2017, collaborating on " Kevin's Heart", " Middle Child", and " Lion King on Ice". The caption of the post read: "I still got some goals I gotta check off for' I scram.", alluding to a potential retirement. Also listed, but not crossed out was two projects, The Off-Season and It's a Boy, which he intends to release ahead of The Fall Off.
On the list crossed out, was features and Revenge of the Dreamers III. On December 29, 2020, Cole posted a photo on Instagram where he documented a list titled, "The Fall Off Era".
In an interview with Billboard in September 2018, Cole announced his plans to take off time in 2019 from touring to finish work on The Off-Season, The Fall Off, and his Kill Edward project. In the description to the video, it reads: "The Off Season coming soon. Cole announced The Off-Season, which will precede the release of what was originally planned to be his sixth studio album, The Fall Off. On August 7, 2018, Cole released " Album of the Year (Freestyle)", accompanied by a music video. The album scored a nomination for Best Rap Album at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. Four songs from The Off-Season debuted in the top ten on the US Billboard Hot 100 every song on the album charted in the top forty. At the time of its release, The Off-Season achieved the largest streaming week of 2021, accumulating over 325.5 million streams. It sold 282,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, earning Cole his sixth consecutive number-one album in the country. The Off-Season received positive reviews from critics and topped the US Billboard 200. The Off-Season was accompanied by a twelve-minute short film upon its release titled, Applying Pressure: The Off-Season Documentary.
The Off-Season was supported by two singles: " Interlude" and " My Life". Production was handled by multiple producers, including Cole himself, T-Minus, Timbaland, Boi-1da, Frank Dukes, DJ Dahi, Tae Beast, and Jake One, among others.
It became Cole's first album since 2013's Born Sinner to contain guest features. It also featured guest vocals from Morray, 21 Savage, Lil Baby, Bas, and 6lack. The album was executive produced by Cole, Ibrahim Hamad, and T-Minus. It was released on May 14, 2021, by Dreamville Records, Roc Nation and Interscope Records. The Off-Season is the sixth studio album by American rapper J.