Is J. Cole set to go on another headline-grabbing run of guest features like 2018 and 2019? So far, Cole provided verses for “On the Street” with J-Hope and “All My Life” by Lil Durk in 2023. He also showed up on Summer Walker’s new project.
LVRN recording artist Summer Walker dropped the Clear 2: Soft Life EP today (May 19). The R&B singer-songwriter’s 9-track EP includes the opener titled “To Summer, From Cole – Audio Hug” which essentially serves as J. Cole’s public letter to Summer.
“Hey, Ms. Walker. Thank you for wanting a verse from me. Apologies for the wait, some times it’s hard to get the distraction up off ya for enough time to jot your thoughts. But f### it, this morning I gotsta,” raps J. Cole.
He continues, “I’m thinking about ya, I heard you just had you another lil baby. Congratulations, I hope you got through it with no complications. I find it amazing, the way that you juggle your kids, the biz, the fame, the b###### that’s hating. They sit around waiting for you to fall off like the album I’m making.”
J. Cole has been teasing his forthcoming The Fall Off studio LP for over three years. The Dreamville Records co-founder released The Off-Season in 2021. It joined a discography that also includes Cole World: The Sideline Story, Born Sinner, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, 4 Your Eyez Only, and KOD.
In addition, Cole mentioned one of his favorite Summer Walker songs. The North Carolinian rhymed, “Thank you for sharing your light, your voice, and writing them beautiful poems. ‘Session 32’ bring me to tears, be getting choked up when I hear it.”
Summer Walker’s Clear 2: Soft Life EP follows 2021’s Over It LP and 2021’s Still Over It LP. J. Cole is not the only Hip Hop superstar to open a project by the Atlanta native with a personalized message. “Bitter (Narration By Cardi B)” is the first track on Still Over It.
Clear 2: Soft Life also features fellow Atlanta musician Donald “Childish Gambino” Glover on “New Type.” Solange Knowles, Steve Lacy, and John Kirby co-produced the EP’s closer “Agayu’s Revelation.” A music video for “Pull Up” landed on Friday.