| The Fall-Off | ||||
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| Released | February 6, 2026 | |||
| Recorded | 2016–2026 | |||
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| Singles from The Fall-Off | ||||
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The Fall-Off is the upcoming seventh and final studio album by American rapper J. Cole, set to be released on February 6, 2026 through Dreamville and Interscope Records.
J. Cole began teasing The Fall-Off via "1985 (Intro to The Fall Off)", the final track of his 2018 album KOD . He continued to tease it following KOD's release, commonly through his Kill Edward alter ego. [1] In the same year, Cole revealed more information regarding the album during his interview with Angie Martinez on May 9, 2018, stating that the singles "False Prophets" and "Everybody Dies" were originally recorded for The Fall-Off.
On July 20, 2020, Cole wrote in The Players' Tribune about his goals for The Fall-Off:
The fire that was once dying out has returned, and for that I'm grateful. On my career bucket list, there remain a few more items to check off before I give myself permission to enter whatever the next chapter of my life may be. However, as I approach the summit of this mountain, I still find myself staring at that other one in the distance, wondering if I can climb. [2]
On July 21, during the release of his EP Lewis Street, Cole revealed that the two songs on the EP, "Lion King on Ice" and "The Climb Back", would be the first tracks on The Fall-Off.
On December 29, 2020, Cole posted a picture depicting the Fall-Off Era, which showcased the supposed timeline of releases from Cole leading up to The Fall-Off itself. The timeline had the following milestone releases in order: features, Revenge (alluding to Revenge of the Dreamers III ), KOD, The Off-Season , It's A Boy, and The Fall-Off. Of the listed releases, everything up until KOD was scratched off, marking them as completed. This image fueled theories that Cole would be dropping It's A Boy before The Fall-Off, strengthened by its reappearance in Dreamville merchandise sold during his It's All a Blur Tour - Big as the What? with Drake in 2024, with The Off-Season also appearing to be scratched off.
On May 10, 2021, Cole revealed more information about The Fall-Off on the documentary Applying Pressure: The Off-Season Documentary .
"There are songs on here in this whole Fall Off era that I've been sitting on for years, just tweaking, making better, even like a Middle Child, that was for The Fall Off, but then I'm like, do you really wanna wait to drop this fuckin song? So we put out Middle Child as a single, now normally I would just hoard that song, and similarly yes I've been hoarding songs because I'm like, I made this for The Fall Off, this is too special, now over the years, they have gotten better, I still got more work to do, especially on The Fall Off specifically, got a few more songs to write, I got more tinkering I need to do, but the vision, I finally got this sh*t scoped in and I can see this sh*t, and for a long time I just knew what I wanted to do but I just couldn't see it, this is the most ambitious sh*t I have ever done, it's the patience and the trust, it's a tight rope of a walk, but I'm walking that shit."
On Nov 2, 2023, on the A Safe Place podcast with Lil Yachty and MitchGoneMad, Cole spoke again about the concept behind the album.
"If I go out and close the chapter, not saying I will, but if I do, I want to do it at the highest level of achievement and skill set that I ever been.. Oh there’s an album for this, referring to The Fall Off, I didn't know the name, but over time the name and the story and my skills grew. All of them features have been exercises just to sharpen the sword."
In 2024, Cole explained the concept of this album in detail on his audio series "Inevitable". Following his successful run of 2014 Forest Hills Drive , the status at the height of his career inspired the album title. He explained that he felt stuck in a comfort zone and was looking for a word that best describes this feeling. While thinking of titles for this album, he wanted it to be in the theme of his mixtapes: The Come Up (2007) and The Warm Up (2009), and came to the conclusion of "it's The Fall Off, you're experiencing The Fall Off. That's gonna be the album, but it's not time yet." [3]
On the motivation behind planning this release to be his final album, Cole wrote:
For the past 10 years, this album has been hand crafted with one intention: a personal challenge to myself to create my best work. To do on my last what I was unable to do on my first. I had no way of knowing how much time, focus and energy it would eventually take to achieve this, but despite countless challenges along the way, I knew in my heart I would one day get to the finish line. I owed it first and foremost to myself. And secondly, I owed it to hip hop. [4]
In an interview, Cole revealed that he began recording The Fall-Off in 2016, which coincides with lyrics on a feature appearance on DJ Khaled's "Jermaine's Interlude" where Cole teased his "thoughts of retirement". [5] The 2016 singles "False Prophets" and "Everybody Dies" were recorded for The Fall-Off. [6] In his 2021 Applying Pressure: The Off-Season Documentary , Cole spoke about the recording process saying:
There are songs on here in this whole Fall-Off era that I've been sitting on for years, just tweaking, making better, even like a "Middle Child", that was for The Fall-Off... So we put out "Middle Child" as a single, now normally I would just hoard that song, and similarly yes I've been hoarding songs because I'm like, I made this for The Fall-Off, this is too special, now over the years, they have gotten better, I still got more work to do, especially on The Fall Off specifically, got a few more songs to write, I got more tinkering I need to do. [7]
In his interview with Timmhotep Aku, Cole revealed his creative process behind Disc 2 Track 2. [8] [9]
"That was so much time spent downstairs in my crib in the studio while the kids are at school, sitting in one spot and putting a puzzle together. So enjoyable. Took so much time. I don't say that to say it was, like, work. It was like putting a puzzle together to challenge myself. Things got real once the song started coming together. At that moment, I get scared. I get excited and scared simultaneously. I get excited because I go, 'What if? What if you could do this whole rhyme about your life story in reverse, but you gotta keep...' I'm setting rules. 'You gotta keep...four syllables minimum. What if?' Then I get excited, because I'm like, that would be so amazing. But then the fear comes in, almost a voice, like, 'Don't try it, ni**a. Why? You know that's not possible.
........
Those moments, writing it? That’s the number one experience. And recording it is right there. I'm gonna tell you the truth, releasing it was exciting yesterday, but that sh*t is nothing in comparison. The reactions are at the bottom of the pole. That's beneath the floor because no fulfillment comes from that... good or bad response, no fulfillment comes from that.
On January 14, 2026, Cole released a trailer for The Fall-Off and announced it would be released on February 6, 2026. [10] [11] The same day, he released the single "Disc 2 Track 2", [12] implying that The Fall-Off would be a double album. [13]
A day before his 41st birthday, January 27, 2026, Cole would release Birthday Blizzard '26 . This was a 4-track freestyle EP over classic hip-hop beats to build anticipation for the album. [14]
