On Monday, May 10th, news dropped that rapper J. Cole is joining a team in the NBA Africa league, a sporting entity that President Barack Obama is a primary stakeholder.
Just one day later, he makes history by being the first artist to be featured alone on the June/July 2021 cover of SLAM magazine (Issue 232).
The publishers released the cover for fans to see and received an overwhelmingly positive response from the sports and entertainment enthusiasts: covers.slamonline.com/j-cole .
“Jordan was like Jesus, SLAM was like the Bible.”
J. Cole is the first artist to be featured solo on the cover of SLAM. https://t.co/VCTMMv7SXh pic.twitter.com/oJye2UsIT2
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) May 11, 2021
Adam Figman, the Chief Content Officer at SLAM, says in a statement, “J. Cole stands for everything SLAM stands for—the way basketball and music overlap and inspire greatness in one another.”
“This cover was a long time coming,” he continues. “And we’re proud that we were able to make it happen just as Cole was about to release an album influenced by his love of hoops.”
In his SLAM article J. Cole explains why he named his upcoming album The Off-Season.
“The Off-Season symbolizes the work that it takes to get to the highest height. The Off-Season represents the many hours and months and years it took to get to top form.
“Just like in basketball, what you see him do in the court, that s### was worked on in the summertime,” J. Cole continued. “So for an athlete, if they take their career seriously and if they really got high goals and want to chase them, the offseason is where the magic really happens, where the ugly s### really happens, where the pain happens, the pushing yourself to uncomfortable limits.”
This all comes as a precursor to the rapper’s sixth studio album, which drops this Friday, May 14th.
At the top of the week, he dropped a mini-doc about the making of the project.
its live. See you on Friday. https://t.co/v6WKmo4bFu
— J. Cole (@JColeNC) May 10, 2021