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J. Cole has released his new LP, KOD. His fifth studio album is the follow-up to 2016’s 4 Your Eyez Only, which was his fourth consecutive Number One album.
A few hours before the album dropped late Thursday, the album’s title was given some context via an album trailer. As was previously reported, the LP’s initials correspond with three different meanings. The first is “Kids on Drugs.”
“If I turn on the TV right now, it’s not gonna take long for there to be an advertisement that pops up that says, ‘Are you feeling down? Have you been having lonely thoughts?’” says a low-pitched and distorted male voice, which could be J. Cole’s, in the clip. “And then they shove a pill in your face. The first response of any problems is medicate.”
“King Overdosed” is another album definition. “That’s representing me, the times that I was, and am, afflicted by the same methods of escape,” he explains, before he references issues with alcohol, phone addiction and women. The final meaning refers to “Kill Our Demons.” “That’s the end goal, to face our shit, realize that we have some shit going on inside. Everybody… because nobody’s fucking perfect,” he says.
The rapper also shared the three title definitions on Twitter andadded,“The rest of the album I leave to your interpretation.”
J. Cole began teasing the album earlier this week. On Monday, he tweetedan open invitation to an impromptu listening session at New York’s Gramercy Theatre, where he revealed that the LP would drop at the end of the week.
Two days laterhe revealed the artwork and track listto the 12-song set. The cover depicts a disturbed looking king, whose insides are filled with children taking various kinds of drugs. Above them are skeleton heads. “This album is in no way intended to glorify addiction,” it says at the top of the cover.
J. Cole’s KOD Track List
1. “Intro”
2. “KOD”
3. “Photograph”
4. “The Cut Off” featuring Kill Edward
5. “ATM”
6. “Motiv8”
7. “Kevin’s Heart”
8. “Brackets”
9. “Once an Addict (Interlude)”
10. “Friends” featuring Kill Edward
11. “Window Pain (Outro)”
12. “1985 (Intro to the Fall Off)”
Stream J. Cole’s KOD
