Ciera Lanail’s voice is a little hoarse. She’s been screaming in disbelief for 24 hours after meeting one of her favorite artists, rapper J. Cole, in Silver Spring.

Plenty of artists plan meet and greet-style events to engage with their fans while promoting a new album. But the two-time Grammy-winning rapper and producer, 41, took it one step further.

After releasing his seventh studio album, “The Fall-Off,” last week, Cole has been driving up the East Coast, selling CDs out of the trunk of the old Honda Civic he’s had since college. He posted on social media Wednesday that he was in “Silver Springs, MD” and would pick up a handful of lucky locals to drive around town while playing his new music.

“If there’s anybody in the area that wants to ride with me in the Civic while we listen to the album let me know,” he wrote in an X post. “I got new speakers for this.”

Lanail was one of many fans who responded to the post, hoping to be chosen but not necessarily expecting it.

But then her phone was suddenly flooded with notifications. Cole was on his way to pick up her and a friend.

“I had to give him my number,” Lanail told The Banner. “That’s a crazy thing to say.”

It was a packed car: Lanail, her friend, another fan who they later picked up from Riverdale, plus Cole and his longtime friend and manager, Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad.

Over the course of their drive, Cole played disc 29 (one of two discs that make up “The Fall-Off”) while they all chatted. They talked about life, about him becoming a father, about putting together the new album and making it in the entertainment industry.

His advice? Be consistent in doing the thing you love to do and stay authentic to who you are.

“He was so sweet, so nice and very down to earth, very grounded, very humble,” Lanail said. “I felt like I was really just kicking it with the homies, like I was just hanging out with my friends after a long day.”

Other fans who joined Cole during the evening captured photos and videos of their time in the car. The rapper actually encouraged it, but Lanail and her friend decided they’d rather keep the memory for themselves.

“We didn’t want to seem like crazy fans because we truly wanted to value the time,” she said. “You don’t always need a photograph or a video to do that. I’m really, really grateful for the opportunity to even be in the car. ... This definitely made my year.”

Cole also swung by Nando’s Peri-Peri restaurant in downtown Silver Spring, where he stopped to take photos with fans and sign CDs. And he drove around Howard University in D.C., where fans surrounded his car hoping to catch a glimpse of the two-time Grammy winner and 18-time nominee. He wrote on social media that it was “tooooo crazy over there right now” with the hordes of fans. He was hoping to work with the university to figure out a less chaotic way to meet fans.

Cole’s tour of Maryland continued Thursday, when fans reported spotting the rapper in Baltimore.

His visit even caught the attention of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who replied “pull up!!” to Cole’s Silver Spring post with the address for the governor’s mansion in Annapolis.

And yes, he did catch some flack for referring to the area as “Silver Springs” — a mistake made by many out-of-towners, including Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks, who penned the song “Silver Springs” after driving through Maryland and misreading a sign.

“My apologies. Silver spring!” Cole replied to one of several comments correcting him.