Although J. Cole’s new album The Off-Season has now officially been out for over a week, the unusual rollout for the long-awaited album continues — and keeps to the established theme of “rap as basketball.” With a cover featuring a burning basketball hoop, a documentary detailing his “training” for the new album, a cover story in Slam magazine, and a professional basketball career in Rwanda, Cole’s been using The Off-Season to reinforce the long-held parallels between basketball and hip-hop.
Today, he and his Dreamville crew revealed the latest version of his Puma basketball sneaker, the RS-Dreamer 2, in a new colorway, fittingly titled the “Off-Season Reds.” The shoes are modeled in the campaign shots by the NBA’s Kyle Kuzma of the Los Angeles Lakers and the WNBA’s Skylar Diggins-Smith of the Phoenix Mercury.
DREAMER 2 “The Off-Season Red” available now https://t.co/SdZZMsaOe6 pic.twitter.com/bNjeHD3y78
— Ibrahim H. (@KingOfQueenz) May 21, 2021
☁️☁️☁️☁️ @kylekuzma for DREAMER @DreamerOnlyFans ☁️☁️☁️☁️
Off-Season RED available Friday. pic.twitter.com/vgeR076Sxz
— J. Cole (@JColeNC) May 20, 2021
DREAM for the next generation☁️
DREAMER 2 “OFF-SEASON RED” available Friday! @PUMAHoops @DreamerOnlyFans pic.twitter.com/A5iKh6vz20— Skylar Diggins-Smith (@SkyDigg4) May 19, 2021
In his debut game for the Rwanda Patriots of the Basketball Africa League against the Nigeria Rivers Hoopers, J. Cole put up a respectable rookie box score (3 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists) and played admirable defense, earning plenty of accolades from other pro hoopers who were simply impressed to see the 36-year-old pursue his hoop dreams and keep up with the best players the continent has to offer.
You can pick up the “Off-Season” red RS-Dreamer 2 here.
