J. Cole drops surprise 'Birthnight Blizzard '26' EP with four new Freestyles

J. Cole celebrated turning 41 with a surprise EP, Birthday Blizzard ’26' hosted by DJ Clue and dropped on Tuesday, January 27, 2026.

On one track, Cole delivers a seamless freestyle over the classic 'Victory' beat by Stevie J, made famous by Diddy, The Notorious B.I.G., and Busta Rhymes.

Another freestyle seems to reference his apology to Kendrick Lamar last year.

The Dreamville rapper had initially called out Lamar on 7 Minute Drill but later removed the song from streaming and publicly apologized at his Dreamville Festival.

Reflecting on the apology, he said, “I used to be top, see, the apology dropped me way out of the top three, no problem, I’m probably my best when they doubt me.”

“The top ain’t really what I thought it would be, so I jumped off and landed back at the bottom and restarted at a level where I wasn’t regarded as much, just to climb past them again and tell them all to keep up.”

The surprise EP is a preview for Cole's forthcoming album, The Fall-Off, set to drop on February 6.

When announcing the LP earlier in January, Cole released an accompanying 'Disc 2 Track 2' single, where he cleverly raps his life’s story in reverse.

American rapper J. Cole’s last album, The Off-Season was released in May 2021 and topped the Billboard 200.