For literally eight years, J. Cole has been teasing an album called The Fall-Off. Over that time, he's implied that the album will be his last. Cole has seemingly willed the album toward mythical status, and now he's finally released it. Cole finally announced The Fall-Off a few weeks ago, and he rapped about his role in the Drake/Kendrick Lamar beef on the pre-album EP Birthday Blizzard '26.Now, The Fall-Off is here. It's a 101-minute, 24-track double album, and it leaves us with a whole lot to discuss.
In the vast expanse of The Fall-Off, you will hear all the things that make J. Cole special, and you'll also hear all the things that often make him frustrating. The man can flat-out rap, and his writerly bar construction is often worth studying. He clearly wants to be regarded among the all-time greats, and he practically breaks his neck in his constant attempts to prove his own worth. He has songs in a bunch of different styles, and he tells stories in ways that are often both artful and propulsive. He's also wildly self-impressed and often really boring, and his politics aren't always as enlightened as he seems to think they are.
The track from The Fall-Off that's already predictably getting a whole lot of attention is "SAFETY," where he talks about feeling guilty for cutting ties from an old friend when the friend came out as gay. In telling the story, Cole throws out a whole lot of unforced homophobia. It's like he's trying to be Kendrick Lamar so badly that he wants to have his own "Auntie Diaries" discourse cycle.
Elsewhere on The Fall-Off, Cole talks about processing old trauma and about struggling to accept the idea that he can't be great forever, as well as a whole lot of other stuff. There are a few outright bangers on there; I really like "WHO TF IZ U" and "Old Dog." It's kind of striking that 2026's two big-name rap records, The Fall-Off and A$AP Rocky's Don't Be Dumb, both have hooks that heavily reference Petey Pablo's 2001 jam "Raise Up." Somebody could've made a whole lot of Polymarket money from better on that. But that brings me to something else: There are a lot of samples, interpolations, and quotes on this album. You'll hear bits and pieces of songs from Lil Boosie, Mobb Deep, Outkast, DMX, Common, and T.I., among others.
There are no official features on The Fall-Off, at least for now, but a bunch of tracks apparently have uncredited backing vocals from big-name artists. According to Complex, the LP has appearances from Future, Tems, Erykah Badu, Burna Boy, and the aforementioned Petey Pablo. Cole produced or co-produced many of the tracks, and other producers include the Alchemist, T-Minus, Boi-1da, Vinylz, Beat Butcha, and Powers Pleasant. You can stream the album below.
The Fall-Off is out now on Cole World, Inc./Interscope.
