J. Cole’s LA Leakers Freestyle Bill Cosby Line Elicits Polarized Reactions From Fans

When J. Cole popped up on the LA Leakers radio show to promote his new album The Off-Season with a fiery freestyle, fans were mostly impressed by his polished flow and clever punchlines. However, one line, in particular, seems to have captured much of the attention, eliciting a wide range of reactions.

After switching the beat from Souls Of Mischief’s mid-’90s standard “93 Til Infinity” to Mike Jones’s 2005 game-changer “Still Tippin,” Cole adopts a breathless, machine-gun cadence and after picking up some steam, barks this line: “No Bill Cosby sh*t, if they’re sleeping then f*ck em.” The double entendre sent fans swarming to Twitter to post their impressions and while some were impressed, others thought the bar was in poor taste. “Bill Cosby” entered Twitter’s top ten trending topics within an hour of the freestyle dropping as fans debated whether the line was an example of dazzling wordplay or deplorable rape culture (or perhaps a little of both).

https://twitter.com/MaskedGorilla/status/1392551947593420800

If nothing else, the freestyle certainly did its job: Generating buzz for Cole’s upcoming album. The rollout for The Off-Season, which is due this Friday, May 14, has included a Slam cover, a documentary, and even the announcement that the North Carolina rapper was set to play pro basketball in Africa. However the album is received by fans, its release week will be one of hip-hop’s most memorable for long, long time.

Watch J. Cole’s LA Leakers freestyle above.