It all started with a Tweet.

NYC. Come through. Couple hours from now. First come first serve. pic.twitter.com/Z71I9iRnnu

— J. Cole (@JColeNC) April 16, 2018

“First come first serve.” That’s all it took for hundreds of J. Cole fans to flock to Gramercy Theatre on 23rd ST.

With no context of what the show would be about, hundreds of fans circled the block with the hope of seeing J.Cole perform.

I was one of these fans. Luckily the show was right across the street from my school.

Literally running out of my class, I joined the line and was one out of the 600 lucky people to hear J.Cole’s new album, K.O.D.

While we were not allowed to use our phones in the venue, I recorded the reactions and comments of several of the fans who were waiting on the line.

K.O.D., which has three meanings (Kids on Drugs, King OverDosed, and Kill Our Demons), featured 12 songs and covered topics of substance abuse and various forms of escapism, such as drugs, sex, and “the strongest drug of them all, love.”

The last song on the album, 1985, was also said to be the intro for “a whole other project” that J. Cole refused to name.

After previewing the album, J. Cole left the stage without giving the crowd a release date.

Minutes after fans left the venue, J. Cole tweeted to the world and announced his new album, K.O.D., releasing on 4/20.

New album. KOD 4/20

— J. Cole (@JColeNC) April 17, 2018