His hoop dreams may have been deferred, but J. Cole’s got something ready to go for the upcoming basketball season. The North Carolina rapper just introduced the upcoming “Ebony And Ivory” colorway of his Puma Sky Dreamer sneakers and announced their release date on Instagram. They drop this Friday, December 4 — just in time for the NBA’s Christmas Day season tipoff, and Cole’s mentor Jay-Z’s birthday.
Cole first introduced the basketball shoe 100 years ago at the beginning of 2020 with a nostalgic short film recounting his own basketball experiences. He followed up the reveal with a Player’s Tribune feature in which he revealed he nearly quit rapping to pursue an NBA tryout, then hinted that he might be working toward getting that tryout soon. The Detroit Pistons even reached out to encourage him to tryout (they must miss Tobias Harris a bunch).
Of course, then a global pandemic hit, forcing the temporary end of the NBA season until its reboot in the Orlando Disney “bubble,” where a number of players flexed in the shoe both on and off the court.
In the meantime, Cole was relatively quiet on the musical front this year, only releasing a handful of singles including “The Climb Back” and “Lion King On Ice,” which were well-received, and “Snow On Tha Bluff,” which wasn’t. However, he did give updates on his delayed album, which he says is “coming soon.” For now, fans will have to make do with his new sneaker while they wait for him to return to his day job.