Earlier this month, J. Cole finally unleashed his seventh studio album, The Fall-Off. The project managed to move an impressive 280K album-equivalent units in its first week, just shy of the 290K that was projected. During a recent episode of his podcast, Joe Budden shared his thoughts on this, arguing that this proves Cole is still very much a part of the big three.
"Congratulations to J. Cole, really big number," he said, as seen in a clip shared by @gothamhiphop. "I'm really not shocked by it. He's still big three. I know the narrative... but he is. He’s Him, he’s in the Civic, he's driving around, he's meeting with his fans. Big turnouts at a lot of colleges. I saw Ak say that it was performative. What's wrong with performers being performers? [...] There’s a billion ways to be performative, look at the way that he chose and what it represents.”
Budden's co-hosts went on to praise Cole for getting out there and interacting with his fans, which many other artists avoid.
J. Cole's "Trunk Sale" Tour
J. Cole is currently making his way around the United States on his "Trunk Sale" tour, during which he's selling CDs out of his car. He's made stops in Houston, Alabama, and North Carolina, among other cities. Throughout the tour, he's had several meaningful interactions with his supporters, inviting them into his car to listen to his new album, listening to their music, and more.
While on his way to Los Angeles yesterday, his old Honda Civic broke down, forcing him to stop in Phoenix to get it fixed. "Tried to make it to LA before we go back home, the Civic said it had enough and broke on us! Phoenix, we here now while the car is getting fixed [fingers crossed emoji]," he wrote on Twitter/X. "Gonna mob around the city in the sprinter selling CD’s in the meantime."
Unsurprisingly, a massive crowd of fans showed up at the auto shop where his car was to show him love.
