5 J. Cole ‘Birthday Blizzard '26’ Lyrics That Will Make You Sorry for Hating

A little more than a week before dropping his new album The Fall-Off, J. Cole is bringing that feeling back like a recurring injury. On Tuesday night — on the eve of his 41st birthday — he used his website for the album to drop Birthday Blizzard ‘26, a collection of four freestyles hosted by DJ Clue. The title itself is a nod to Clue’s Birthday Blizzard ‘96 mixtape. The content is literally all bars. Like, all bars.

Spitting over a collection of throwback instrumentals like The Lox’s “Money, Power & Respect” and Biggie’s “Who Shot Ya,” Cole gets deft rhyme schemes and unexpected metaphors off every which way to remind folks that, despite an infamous public apology, he’s not to be played with.

Today, we take a look at the five best bars from the project. 

1.  “Bronx Zoo Freestyle”

“Know, nowadays you can make a grip commentatin' / If you master two skills: either dick ridin' or hatin' / Just look around, the hatin' and the dick ridin' is blatant / Tell Mama your ticket to finally live out of her basement / Was found in one magical word, and it's engagement” 

The economy, precision and rhythm here all stand out, for sure. But that’s normal Cole. Roasting an entire ecosystem of clout-chasing, scandal-loving, nihilistic streamers? Yeah. That’s a 10/10 from this beleaguered journalist. Cole mentions the controversies being a ticket out of their mothers’ basements, but here’s to hoping they stay there. 

2.  "Winter Storm Freestyle”

“Back when rappers still was trying to pass they demos to A&R reps / I was dubbin' Sallie Mae, not paying off debts / Through the toughest alleyways, we would pray that our steps / Were protected by the Lord, because what I witnessed / Had all my n****s staying silent like that's none our business / I'm in desperate need of commas like a run-on sentence”

A classic “from the hood to college” juxtaposition Cole renders with humor and finesse. Here, Cole recalls ducking Sallie Mae instead of the cops, who would love some intel on the atrocities Cole and his Fayetteville homies would refuse to speak on, even if they’re petrified. What’s cool is that it manages to be profound, earthly, spiritual and aspirational all at once — songwriting DNA at the core of the best Cole tracks ever. 

3 . “99 Build Freestyle”

“If life is truly a movie, God is the art department / The only way of describin' this way that I'm rhymin'/  Is picture Jeffery Dahmer walkin' a carcass across the carpet / The Marshall Faulk of the roster with all-star offense”

Internal rhyme schemes with Jeffery Dahmer and Marshall Faulk, man. Just man. Bro was in his comfiest bag for this one. 

4.  “Golden Goose Freestyle”

“F**k yachts, I won’t stop ‘til the boat’s a cruise ship / ‘Til the whole world knows who got the gold acoustics / Only then will I split like I co-produced it / Lotta rappers make dough, then be prone to lose it / For crumbs, dumb niggas sold their soul to Lucian / Universal distribution, but I own the music” 

Cole’s been his own institution for a little over a decade now, so his brand of flexing has grown, too. Here, he positions yachts as the stuff of beginners before clowning the unfortunate rappers — and to be real, most major label rappers — who have to live and die by the whims of industry titans who will shelve your record before spending the whole afternoon getting drunk and playing golf. 

5.  “Bronx Zoo Freestyle” (again)

“They wanna know if this is the end-all, be-all / To this rap game, he's trained in CPR / I'm a whole new breed for those that wonder who he think he is / That thunder at night that wake up the sleepyheads / Just when you thought that your boy was completely dead / Boom, walked out that tomb like Matthew said that Jesus did” 

Bible references, phonetic calisthenics and unexpected rhymes. I don’t think anyone seriously thought he was done after backing out of the Kendrick and Drake beef, but if so, freestyles like this one prove that idea is as stupid as Drake’s AI song.