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J. Cole celebrated his 41st birthday a few hours early by sharing a surprise EP full of fresh freestyles.
On Tuesday night, January 27, the seasoned lyricist dropped his new EP Birthday Blizzard '26 hosted by DJ Clue? The project includes four tracks beginning with "Bronx Zoo Freestyle," in which he lays down a lengthy verse over Diddy's "Victory." He opens the verse with a flow inspired by JAY-Z and Jermaine Dupri's "Money Ain't A Thing," then opines on the current state of Hip-Hop.
"Somewhere 'long the way, I hate to say we lost shame/Grown men peddlin' gossip of all things," he spits. "I remеmber when it was rappin' and ball-playin'/Now the bread and butter is yappin' and parlayin'"
Cole continues his lyrical assault on some of the biggest acts in Hip-Hop on the remaining three tracks. On "Golden Goose Freestyle," he addressed the artists who've "sold their soul" for 360 deals and been accused of using bots to boost their streaming numbers over Black Rob & The LOX's "Can I Live?" Cole doesn't name names, but several lines could be interpreted as shots at Drake.
"If the streams say you're winnin’, why your tours is losin’?" Cole raps. "When the math ain’t mathin’, of course you’re juicin’/That mean the bots is boostin’/Cut the tough guy image, it is not conducive to breathin'/Don’t gamble witcha life ‘cause the opps is cruisin’/Word to Mike Vick, your dog might get shot for losin’."
On "Winter Storm Freestyle," Cole serves up more cold bars over The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Who Shot Ya." He refrains from targeting anyone in particular, but warns the haters to tread lightly. "Memes say I'm humble, but trust this humility's/From witnessin' violence and turned off utilities," he spits. "No man that's rhymin' can match my fluidity/I'm Mike Jordan, Ant Edwards — n***a, you kiddin' me? Cole gets older, but grows new abilities/You didn't know I'm Zeno with Goku agility."
Cole closes out with his "99 Build Freestyle" over The LOX's "Money, Power, Respect," a track Jadakiss recently spoke about before the EP's release. In it, he seemingly takes a jab at Joey Bada$$, who kicked off 2025 by coming at Kendrick Lamar and other West coast rappers following the great rap civil war of 2024.
"Known as the rap game, that's been overcome with loads of marketin' plans/Based on randomly dissin' and hatin' on the next man," Cole raps. "I understand, imagine workin' hard as you can/On this album you planned, hopin' it charges yo' brand/But as soon as you drop it, the world's ignorin' again."
J. Cole dropped the EP on the website for his upcoming album The Fall-Off and only charged $1. Of course, the servers crashed but fans were able to get the tracks a few hours later. You can still cop Birthday Blizzard '26 here. See what The Breakfast Club had to say about the project below.