‘Billboard Unfiltered’: J. Cole’s Path Forward, Ye’s ‘Bully’ Album & 2025 Grammy Predictions

A new week means another episode of Billboard Unfiltered is upon us. The Billboard trio (sans Trevor Anderson) delves into J. Cole’s path forward following him bowing out of the Kendrick Lamar–Drake beef, shares 2025 Grammy predictions and talks about Ye’s next solo album.

J. Cole has laid relatively low since the Drake-Kendrick war, but returned with a pair of assists recently when teaming up with Daylyt for “A Plate of Collard Greens” and Tee Grizzley’s “Blow for Blow.”

Deputy Director, Editorial Damien Scott loved the pair of verses Cole dished out but is still waiting to see how he charts his next move. “Fans are expecting an acknowledgement and a path forward for him. They’re waiting to see how he positions himself now. It seems he’s still going with the I’m the best, don’t f–k with me and stay out of my lane talk,” he said. “Will that be able to hold over going into this next album? We’ll see.”

Staff writer Kyle Denis “never had any doubt” Cole could still deliver on guest verses, so this “doesn’t move the needle” for him and he’s interested to hear what’s to come with The Fall Off.

“What I really do want to see does he actually acknowledge how he moved through this beef on his own records, on his own terms when the time comes,” he added. “I get the whole, ‘How can you rap like this after doing all of that?’ But I also do think it’s kind of fun to watch him remain in that bag.”

Deputy Director, R&B/Hip-Hop Carl Lamarre still has faith that the Dreamville boss will deliver a “great” body of work with his next project. “I think he’s gonna speak on that on the album,” he stated. “The appeal he has on the feature side is undeniable, but it’s also like I can’t take you serious. It’s a struggle for me to look at you.”

The first round of voting is underway for the 2025 Grammy Awards and the fellas see a big year for Kendrick Lamar on the horizon and his Drake diss records.

“Given his track record, it’s not really a matter of possibility it’s the songs they really rally behind,” Denis candidly began. “I think if I had to guess, if they’re gonna push anything they’re probably gonna push ‘Euphoria.’ It’s a safer bet and I think a better display of his rap skill than ‘Not Like Us’ is.”

Lamarre added: “They expect ‘Euphoria’ to dominate the rap categories and ‘Not Like Us’ to overtake [the general field]. That could be Kendrick sweeping rap and potentially win five or six [trophies].”

After releasing a pair of installments of Vultures alongside Ty Dolla $ign, Ye (formerly Kanye West) appears set to return to his solo work. While performing in Haikou, China over the weekend, West teased his next album which is tentatively titled Bully.

If Yeezy is focused on making a coherent body of work, Scott is interested to hear what Ye has cooking for Bully.

“He [played] a song called ‘Beauty and the Beast’ … Even if it’s a Donda holdover, it’s the direction I hope he goes in. It sounded coherent, it sounded like an actual song,” he said. “There are verses and he’s not mumbling. He’s talking about things that are outside the conspiracy of certain racial groups dominating the world. If that’s the case, then yeah, I want to hear the Kanye album… He’s made most of what we consider to be popular culture right now.”

Watch the full episode above.