March 6, 2026 (Los Angeles, CA) – Primed to make an impact in the world of independent hip-hop, rising rap phenom Joey Cool proudly presents his much-anticipated new album, Time Will Tell, out today via Strange Music.
He celebrates its arrival by dropping a frenetic and high-energy music video for the single “Set It Off” [feat. Tech N9ne, Rittz, King Iso, X-Raided, & Matt Phoenix].
Continuing a prolific streak of provocative and poignant projects, Joey made a conscious decision to slow down the pace and meticulously assemble what would become Time Will Tell. Rather than rush or worry about a deadline, he recorded songs over the course of 2025 at Strange Music. He sought out different beats and pushed himself as a lyricist in order to carefully curate this body of work. Additionally, he looked outside of music for inspiration, nodding to films a la The Harder They Fall and Sinners.
All of these elements enabled him to level up.
He comments, “I was watching these movies, and I knew I wanted some crazy production on there. Once I began working, it started flowing. I was accumulating experiences. I definitely imparted those upon the album. There’s more of a cinematic theme. It’s a more mature, grown-up Joey Cool.”
“Set It Off” is a verbal powder keg sparked by a barrage of bars from the elite cohort of Tech, Rittz, King Iso, X-Raided, and Joey with a hypnotic crescendo from Matt Phoenix. Fittingly, Tech delivers a declaration of intent on behalf of the group, “I set it off with the best in the bid-ness, I do, I do!” The accompanying visual hits just as hard as the song does!
“I kept adding guests to it, and it turned into a classic Strange Music posse track,” says Joey grins. “Getting all of these guys on it really made the song nostalgic for me. We referred to the beat as ‘G-Opera’. ‘Set It Off’ was a special one for me.”
He paved the way for the album with “You Feel It.” Watch the Music Video HERE and Listen HERE. The visual has already clocked over 1 million views and counting in less than a month. He also earned plugs from Hip Hop Over Everything, Chad Kiser, and VIBE who touted it among “25 Hip-Hop, R&B Releases You Ned On Your Playlist.”
Prior, he put a bow on 2025 with “Yam Jam” featuring Kstylis and Roblo Dastar. The raunchy Christmas banger amassed 930K YouTube views on its music video. It followed his recent anthem “Franchise” with Y2, which picked up plugs from I’m Music Magazine and more. It landed in the wake of the recent “Talk That Shit.” The music video for the latter impressively exploded with 1.2 million YouTube views indicative of the buzz and excitement surrounding Cool’s next chapter.
In 2021, Joey Cool joined forces with Tech N9ne, King Iso, and the legendary Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for the biggest independent rap song of that year, “Face Off.” Its success would be downright unprecedented, birthing a TikTok challenge and amassing over 13 billion views! The track has crushed nearly 218 million Spotify streams so far with 89 million views on the blockbuster music video. The track saw him mentioned by everyone from Variety to Entertainment Weekly.
Fans Can Listen to the new project HERE
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