
J. Cole’s Short Film Is About Basketball & The Drive To Make Dreams Come True (Video)
While many Heads are waiting for The Fall Off to make its way, J. Cole, the face of Dreamville Records, is making his own dreams come true.
The now-Grammy Award-winning MC/producer announced this morning (February 13) a multi-year partnership with Puma. Notably, Cole’s Roc Nation family member JAY-Z is the President Of Basketball Operations at the German shoemaker and apparel giant. However, it comes with something we can all feel.
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The sneaker brand has previously worked with other Rap acts such as Nipsey Hussle, YBN Cordae, Meek Mill, and G-Eazy. The beauty behind this latest partnership comes with regard to J. Cole’s connection to the city where he’s from: Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Co-directed by Amber Grace Johnson, Scott Lazer, and J. Cole, a short film The DREAMER recounts the Forest Hill Drive native’s continuing love for basketball even after all his recent successes in Hip-Hop and activism.
Over Labi Siffre’s “My Song” (which was sampled by Kanye West on Graduation‘s “I Wonder”), The DREAMER opens with a trio of young players watching grown-ups run a game of five-on-five at the local park. A kid, who resembles a preadolescent J. Cole, takes a chance to step on the court when the players move to the other end, but gets caught daydreaming and interrupts the back-and-forth each time.
The remainder of the film sees Young Simba working on his game in both archival footage of the real J. Cole taken from home movies as well as modern-day moments of him working in the gym. The short even incorporates his failed All-Star dunk as part of the process before closing with him finally pulling off the real thing. Billy Joel’s “Vienna” bookends the short that closes with the baby-faced Cole flirting with nostalgia by saying, “I think we’re sorry,” and plays in the park alone at night.
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The Puma x Dreamville deal is a multi-year footwear and apparel deal, which is “deep-rooted,” according to Adam Patrick, Puma’s Global Director Of Brand and Marketing, said in a press release. “We’re excited to work with him not only on a product level but even more importantly, as one of our athletes.”
Cole’s debut sneaker collaboration with Puma also releases this week is the reissue of the classic Sky LX from the 1980s now dubbed “the Sky Dreamer.”
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The basketball-themed commercial for The DREAMER will also air during this Sunday’s (February 16) NBA All-Star game.
New music by J. Cole and Dreamville artists is currently on the official Ambrosia For Heads Playlist.