J. Cole just surprise-released a new mixtape, Birthday Blizzard '26. Ahead of the release of his new album The Fall Off, which is set to come out February 6th, the mixtape is the first collection of tracks the North Carolina rapper has released since 2024's Might Delete Later.

As you might know, Might Delete Later was released as a reaction to Kendrick Lamar's verse in Future and Metro Boomin's "Like That" – one that sparked a whole beef where Drake ended up humiliated and Lamar scored the biggest hit of his career with "Not Like Us". But Cole was also part of the beef, since it was him who first named the trio the "Big Three" of modern rap on Drake's 2023 "First Person Shooter".

In response to Lamar's "fuck the Big Three" on "Like That", Cole released "7-Minute Drill" as a diss to the California rapper, but later changed his mind, apologized and deleted the track from streaming platforms.

Birthday Blizzard '26 (released on Cole's 41st birthday, today) is built as a 90's mixtape, with DJ Clue as a host. Cole opens "Bronx Zoo Freestyle", the first track, saying he's no longer part of the Big Three, but that his silence has made him stronger: "Apology dropped me way out of the top three / No problem, I'm probably my best when they doubt me," he rhymes over Sean Combs' "Victory" beat (which Combs released as Puff Daddy back in the 90's).

The rest of the tracklist is also composed of Bad Boy Records beats, like Black Rob's "Can I Live" and Biggie's "Who Shot Ya?".

Birthday Blizzard is not available to stream, but you can but it for $1 here.