One Last Time: J.Cole releases his final and highly anticipated album ‘The Fall Off’

Being famous comes with its ups and downs, and while may popularity brings success, it can just as easily be forgotten and lost.

This is known as “falling off,” and rapper J. Cole discusses this feeling and how it impacts him on his new album “The Fall-Off.”  

“The Fall-Off” provides J.Cole fans with another album full of amazing flows, such as songs “Bunce Road Blues” and “The Villest,” yet with an amazing use of storytelling about his past and how it affects him. After only two years of the release of his last album “Might Delete Later,” J.Cole is feeding his fans with more and more platinum hits one last time.

“’The Fall Off’ is one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written,” simply said OH senior Sebastion Simkins.

“The Fall-Off” was released on multiple platforms on Feb. 6, with 24 songs and a runtime of one hour and 41 minutes. The album discusses J.Cole’s life in and his upcoming and how he still tries to hold on dearly to the places he grew up in. “The Fall-Off” is a story told within two separate discs, talking about separate times in J. Cole’s life.

“When it was announced, I was surprised,” said OH senior Kyle Taylor. “I wasn’t expecting his ‘last album’ to be this year.”

The album connects with one of J.Cole’s earlier albums, “The Come Up,” “The Warm Up,” and “The Off-Season.” The album was first hinted at in Cole’s 2018 album KOD when a song named “1985” was subtitled (Intro to “The Fall Off”). This had many fans very skeptical; many believed this would be the name of his future album. 

Six days later, after the release of KOD, J.Cole would respond to a now-deleted fan Q&A tweet asking if J.Cole was planning on releasing an album before KOD. Cole confirmed the suspicion and named the album “The-Fall-Off.” 

“It’s his grand goodbye,” said Simkins.

During J.Cole’s career, “The Fall Off” has given frequent updates even as he worked on other albums. During interviews, J.Cole would talk about his production on the album and it’s meaning  throughout many interviews such as his interview with Power 105’s Angie Martinez in 2018.

“I’ve been working on it for a year and a half,” said J.Cole, “’Everybody Dies,’ ‘False Prophets,’ [everything] that I put out for ‘For Your Eyez Only’ were songs from ‘The Fall Off.’”

This album makes the amount of official studio albums released by Cole change from six to seven releases. And as “The-Fall-Off” hits the billboards as number one, this also makes this his seventh album in a row to do so keeping his perfect streak.

“Honestly, I do think the wait was worth it,” said Taylor.

The album produces two separate discs, both with different sounds and meanings. The first disc, disc 29, paves into Cole’s more hip hop side of the album with features from artists like Future, Tems, and PJ. This disk tells a story about a trip home J.Cole went on when he was 29, achieving his dreams in the music industry.

“Accomplishing what would have seemed impossible to most,” said J.Cole in an interview with The Algorithm, “I was at a crossroad with the three loves of my life: My woman, my craft, and my city.”

The first song, “Two Six,” is a homage to J.Cole’s hometown which he grew up after being born in Frankfurt, Germany. The name “Two Six” refers to the area code of Fayetteville, which is known to carry the weight of the city’s reputation. This song gives a good example of how the rest of disc 29 plays in its hyperactive sounds and lyrical style.

“Personally, I think disk 29 was stronger than disk 39,” said Taylor, “Considering that I think Cole had more to work with disc 29 than 39.”

The second disc, disc 39, gives into J.Coles melodic and trap soul energy throughout this half of the album. This part of the album features artists Erykah Badu, Morray, and Petey Pablo. According to Cole, is the same trip ten years later and much closer to peace than he was ten years ago. 

The song “The Villest” featuring Erykah Badu is a melodic hip hop beat and soul mix. This song goes into the struggle and want of money, success, and happiness.

“The Villest” is a poem of struggle and ego. J.Cole references a story from his 2016 album “Your Eyez Only,” where the traumatic death of his friend James McMillan occurred, and how it affected his thinking and way of life.

The album was a huge success with 21 songs hitting the top 100 Billboard charts, with a highest of 16-100 from his song Two Six.

“I feel like he deserves [Number 1 on the Billboard charts], he really does,” said OH senior Alec Taylor.