When in doubt, get back to basics. After suffering an embarrassing miscue earlier this year, J. Cole appears to have taken this advice to heart, setting aside attempts to compete with top-grossing peers like Drake and Kendrick Lamar in favor of issuing eyebrow-raising guest verses alongside collaborators such as Daylyt, ASAP Rocky, Tems, and Cash Cobain. You can now add Tee Grizzley to that list. J. Cole goes back in his feature verse bag, tag-teaming a frenetic Pi’erre Bourne production with the Detroit native on “Blow For Blow.” In the accompanying video, two rappers perform on a rooftop while Grizzley gives out game (and hundred-dollar bills) in the hood.
It’s good to hear Cole having fun on records again after his miscalculation in stepping into the match between Drake and Kendrick this spring. Issuing “7 Minute Drill” and retracting it within the span of a weekend turned out to be the rap equivalent of a wrestler running down to the ring with a steel chair in one hand and the Money In The Bank briefcase in the other, only to face plant directly into the case, and sheepishly head back to the locker room without so much as flashing the contract for the championship match. Fortunately, he’s got a tried-and-true recovery plan, and if this current run he’s on turns out to be as impactful as the one from 2022, the hype for The Fall Off won’t suffer too much from his earlier faux pas.
You can watch the video for “Blow For Blow” above.