Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole album update: Project on the backburner as Cole takes a break and Lamar focuses on new album?

It is looking more and more like the long-awaited Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole album is no longer happening as the rappers focus on their respective music.

Lamar recently sat down with GQ to, among others, talk about his plans for a new album. While he did not give much detail, the "How Much A Dollar Cost" artist had something up his sleeves.

"It's soon. I have ideas, though. I have ideas and I have a certain approach. But I wanna see what it manifests. I wanna put all the paint on the wall and see where that goes," Lamar said.

"Maybe you can help me with that," the rapper told interviewer — record producer and former co-president of Columbia Records — Rick Rubin, seemingly inviting him to collaborate, which is something that Rubin was "down" with.

As for what this album could be about, fans can expect some elements that will hark them back to his hit album "To Pimp A Butterfly," saying that it will "always have some type of DNA in my music."

But he also said that he wants to grow as an artist and as a person, comparing himself to a chameleon, which he said was both a gift and a curse, but mostly the former.

"My ability to express and still make the connection wherever I go, that is my high point. That's something I pride myself off of," the Compton rapper said.

As for Cole, his album "2014 Forest Hills Drive" recently went double platinum. The rapper has also been busy with a string of concerts to promote the album.

Cole announced that he is taking a break from hitting the road, with his concert at the 2016 The Meadows Music Festival early this month the last one he will do for now.

It looks like Lamar and Cole are too busy to collaborate. What's sure is that they started the work on the album, but it appears that they have not gotten together to finish it.

That being said, fans who are expecting a project from the rappers will have to do with individual projects instead of a collaborative album.

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