J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar new album 2016 release date news: J. Cole's Dreamville exec speaks up; Fate of album in hands of artists?

The J. Cole-Kendrick Lamar collaboration album is a long time coming, and although news about the rumored team-up is once again circulating, everything should be taken with a grain of salt since there's no telling when it will actually happen.

On their own, Cole and Lamar have produced hit after hit. They're constantly at the top of the hip-hop charts, which is why their fans have been anxiously waiting for their collaboration ever since news about it broke out in 2011.

There were reports that their individual projects are keeping them from focusing on the collaboration. Lamar likewise had his plate full a couple of months back after being sued for allegedly copying the music from Bill Withers' 1975 song titled "Don't You Want to Stay" and using it in one of his 2009 songs without permission.

All that aside, Ibrahim Hamad, president of J.Cole's Dreamville Records, recently shed light on the latest developments concerning the purported collaboration album. Apparently, although a collaboration between Cole and Lamar is being negotiated, it's far from being in the works.

"Cole is Cole and he knows what he's doing. He has his ways of getting things done and I think that at the end of it all, it'll be way worth it," Hamad explained in a recent Rap Radar podcast. "Whatever he had planned in February, whatever it is, it'll be way more worth it if people just like, know that he, he's kinda like a mad scientist with his thing. He's like a little mad scientist."

Hamad's words were neither a confirmation nor a denial, and UPROXX noted that the statement seemed to hint that Cole isn't ready to commit to a project with the Grammy award nominee. Moreover, although there were earlier reports that Cole will most like take over the reins to bring the project to fruition, it looks like he's now keener on shelving the collaboration album.

Will the J. Cole X Kendrick Lamar album collaboration ever happen? Only time will tell. In the meantime, keep coming back for updates on this.