Entertainment
J. Cole Announces Release Date For New Album ‘KOD’
A 4/20 album drop leads to high expectations.
On Tuesday, April 16, 2018 — J.Cole publicized on Twitter that his new album, K.O.D., would be released on April 20th. Many rumors have formed over the past few weeks that J.Cole was working on something after he deleted all the posts off his Instagram and changed his profile picture to just the color purple.
New album. KOD 4/20
— J. Cole (@JColeNC) April 17, 2018
Later that night, Cole posted a flyer announcing a free show at the Gramercy Theatre in New York. The post read: “No Phones. No Cameras. No Bags. No Press List. No Guest List.” The rapper used the show to play his new album in it’s entirety.
RapRadar’s B. Dot Miller, who attended the show said K.O.D. stands for three different acronyms: “Kidz on Drugz,” “King Overdose,” and “Kill Our Demonz.”
new #jcole album title: k.o.d.
three different subtitles (kidz on drugz, king overdose, kill our demonz)
recorded in two weeks.
— brian b.dot™ miller (@bdotTM) April 17, 2018
cole played the entire album. about 12 songs.
experimenting with flow.
standout tracks were the intro and last song, “1985”. no word on release date. but it’s coming.
— brian b.dot™ miller (@bdotTM) April 17, 2018
On Wednesday, April 18th, Cole shared the cover art for his album.
The cover shows a painting of Cole dressed like a king with a cloak full of children trying different substances. The fine print above Cole’s head reads, “this album is in no way intended to glorify addiction.” On the back cover, we see children riding what replicates a magic carpet of pills and weed, alongside the track list.
Cole has a pattern of dropping albums with short notice. The same sort of marketing techniques were used during the release of his third album 2014 Forest Hills Drive. In 2016, Cole silently announced the release of 4 Your Eyez Only.
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