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J. Cole is at it again. On Wednesday night, producer Bvtman unleashed Fayetteville’s own new track “Procrastination (Broke),” along with a text message about how it came to be.
The text sender, presumably J. Cole, admits the song was never supposed to see the light of day, but decided to release it as a “thank you” to Bvtman as well as “every producer out there cooking up and sharing their work with the world.”
The message states J. Cole was struggling to find inspiration one day and decided to simply search “J. Cole type beat” on YouTube.
He was directed to Bvtman’s channel, which includes many beats that pay homage to artists like Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Nipsey Hussle, Kanye West, 21 Savage, Drake, and more.
After hearing the “Procrastination” instrumental, J. Cole found the inspiration he’d been looking for.
According to Complex, Bvtman recalled driving on the highway when he randomly received a text message from Ibrahim “IB” Hamad, the co-founder of Dreamville Records and Cole’s longtime manager.
IB informed the producer that J. Cole was a fan of his work, a moment Bvtman describes as unbelievable.
J. Cole continues to stamp his place in hip hop history
Even after 2022’s well-received Off Season album, J. Cole continues to illustrate the passion he vividly described in Heaven’s EP.
An artist unlike most others, J. Cole has endeared himself to fans worldwide by simple, yet thoughtful gestures.
Whether visiting when Michael Brown was murdered in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, calling out Kanye West well before 2022, playing basketball for Rwanda Patriots BBC, or rapping over a YouTube producer’s beat, J. Cole has consistently been a man of the people.
High Snobiety says “J. Cole is not just a household name in the hip hop scene, but he is the voice that reads the reality around him with a lens between educational and committed, but never verbose. In a musical industry where status, lyrics and personas have notoriously revolved around ‘money & fame’, J. Cole is an artist whose insights into our culture and hip hop industry as a whole have always resonated with his audience.”
Though a proven Grammy-winner and respected rap veteran, J. Cole will likely remain tight-lipped about his next project.
According to multiple sources, his next full-length release is speculated to be It’s a Boy.
A dedicated hooper, J. Cole also played three preliminary games with the Rwanda Patriots BBC during the Basketball Africa League in 2021.
Last year, J. Cole signed with the Scarborough Shooting Stars of the Canadian Elite Basketball League, where he played four games before taking a leave from the team to focus on his touring schedule.
He would end the year on the cover of NBA 2K23, cementing his place in the culture once again.
“NBA 2K has long been a place to discover new musical talent through their game and continues to be a gold standard for showcasing all things basketball culture,” J. Cole said in a statement.