J. Cole Celebrates His Beloved Catalog in L.A.
“One time for my L.A. sisters, one time for my L.A. h—s,” J. Cole’s voice rumbled during his performance of “No Role Modelz” in the intimate 500-capacity Roxy Theater in West Hollywood, California, on 23rd night. But the Fayetteville, N.C., rapper did it two times for his L.A. fans last week, which was part of SiriusXM and Pandora’s Small Stage Series. It came two nights after his The Off-Season Tour at Inglewood’s Forum arena.
Cole’s concert was a little too cozy for the artist himself. While sweating through his orange tee but breezing through his decade-long discography and assuring the spectators not to sweat if they didn’t know his tracks bar-for-bar. The 36-year-old rhapsodist then broke down the significance of having a catalog before reliving his own.
According to Billboard, he powered through the highlights from his latest album The Off-Season during the hour-long set, such as “9 5 . s o u t h,” “m y . l i f e,” and “p r i d e . i s . t h e . d e v i l.” Then Cole amped up the crowd with fan favorites, including “Work Out” and “Nobody’s Perfect” from his 2011 debut studio album Cole World: The Sideline Story, “Power Trip” from 2013’s Born Sinner and “Wet Dreamz” and “G.O.M.D.” from 2014 Forest Hills Drive.
While his Dreamville labelmates Bas, Ari Lennox, Earthgang, J.I.D, Cozz and Lute & Omen reunited for the first time since the 2019 inaugural Dreamville Festival at Colorado’s Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, their label boss brought the house down on his own, proving that even without his home team, his pen game would carry him to victory.
-Aditi
