The self-produced “The Climb Back” and “Lion King On Ice" rumors began to circulate of J. Cole potentially gave his boyhood dream of being an NBA player a shot when he appeared in a Puma Commercial where he could be seen hunched over while what seemed to be Master P on narration.
A few days later, TMZ reported that Cole was training for an official NBA opportunity.It didn't take long for a team like the Detroit Pistons to take the obvious media bait but it begs the question. Where is the Grammy Award winning artist head actually?
Well at the end of July J. Cole released a two pack dubbed Lewis Street. A street in Fayetteville, NC, Cole’s hometown, and is where he and his family lived until they moved to the famous 2014 Forest Hills Drive.
King on Ice,” which he co-produced with T-Minus and Jetson. These releases are the rapper’s first two tracks from his upcoming The Fall Off album. On “The Climb Back,” it almost feels that this record is a representation of Cole getting his inspiration and creative juices back. The track feels like Cole is just here to prove his skill and growth with lines “Turn up your decibels, peep how I decimate a joint, Check out my projects like them workers that Section 8 appoints, And you'll see how I flipped like exclamation points. My niggas shoot first as if they never played the point”.
With the “Lion King on Ice,” J. Cole reflects on his come-up, and the struggles and sacrifices made to get there through the years, with “blood on my hands,” he raps on the hook. The record showcases Cole's determination to obtain his super stardom his way, meaning he could become one of the greatest artists alive without the typical “rapper” aesthetic.