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.[3]
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.[4]
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.[5]
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 The Off-Season 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.[6]
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), coming to the conclusion that "it's The Fall Off, you're experiencing The Fall Off. That's gonna be the album, but it's not time yet."[7]
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.[8]
Artwork
On February 4, 2026, alongside revealing the album's track listing, Cole revealed the idea behind the artwork and the back cover. He stated that for every picture used for the album, he was the primary photographer and that both the album's artwork and the back cover were from pictures Cole took when he was fifteen years old. The back cover of the album is a picture of Cole's childhood bedroom which features posters of several prominent rappers, including 50 Cent, Tupac Shakur, Eminem, the Notorious B.I.G., DMX, Scarface, Mobb Deep, and Wu-Tang Clan, alongside posters of several iconic hood films, such as Juice (1992) and Paid in Full (2002), as well as several people who are culturally significant to hip-hop, such as Wood Harris and Wesley Snipes.[2] Cole also explained how the album evolved into a double-disc after becoming "incredibly re-inspired" following the 2024 Drake–Kendrick Lamar feud. For that reason, Cole felt there should be an additional cover that represented the second disc, saying "something just as strong as the first, with my face on it, so when I look back in 20 years, I can see an image of who I was at the time I released the project I worked on for so long."[9]
Recording and production
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".[10] The 2016 singles "False Prophets" and "Everybody Dies" were recorded for The Fall-Off.[11] 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.[12]
In his interview with Timmhotep Aku, Cole revealed his creative process behind "Disc 2 Track 2".[13]
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, nigga. Why? You know that's not possible.[14]
Music and theme
Regarding the double disc concept, Cole revealed that "Disc 29", the first, "tells a story of me returning to my hometown at age 29", stating that "a decade after moving to New York, accomplishing what would have seemed impossible to most, I was at a crossroads with the 3 loves of my life; my woman, my craft, and my city", while "Disc 39", the second "gives insight into my mindset during a similar trip home, this time as a 39 year old man. Older and a little closer to peace".[15]
Release and promotion
On January 14, 2026, Cole released a trailer for The Fall-Off and announced it would be released on February 6, 2026.[16][17] The same day, he released the single "The Fall-Off Is Inevitable"[18], titled "Disc 2 Track 2" when released,[19] implying that The Fall-Off would be a double album.[20]
On January 27, 2026, one day before his forty-first birthday, Cole would release Birthday Blizzard '26, a four-track freestyle EP over classic hip-hop beats to build anticipation for the album.[21] On January 30, Cole released the album's official track listing, confirming the record as a double album.[22]
On the same day as the album's release, Cole shared the music video for "Two Six".[23] To further promote the record, upon its release, Cole embarked on a "trunk sale tour", where he'll travel across the United States in his old Honda Civic to sell CD copies in a traditional fashion, out of his car.[24]
Yesterday I had daddy duties that came before album release celebrations. Today I got my old civic (with the brand new engine) a tour bus and some sprinters. In the trunk of my car is boxes of The Fall-Off CD’s. As a teenager I had copies of the Fayettenam Bommuh’s album that Nervous gave me to sell. I used to go up to the gas stations trying to sell the album to strangers “yo you like hip hop??” Was the beginning of the sales pitch.
When I was working on this album I had the desire to go feel that feeling again, and that’s what I’m about to do. Trunk Sale Tour 26!! I don’t know where we bout to drive to, but catch me outside! Cop a CD from me or just show love. I truly appreciate all the love and the reaction to the music.
Robin Murray for Clash wrote that the record "depicts a soul in love with the art and culture of hip-hop" and that it "propels him and supports him, a place of solace, but also of banishment", stating that the album "feels like his masterpiece, a classic right off the bat". Murray continued that on the first disc, "there’s a playful edge to the music" and that it sees "a longing for maturity, and a lingering self-doubt". On the second disc, Murray stated that it contrasts with the first and is "music made specifically for himself". Concluding his review, he wrote that the record "is living testimony to J. Cole’s ability to stay the path", describing it as a "masterpiece".[25] Kiana Fitzgerald for Consequence wrote that "the strongest parts of the album are when Cole is rapping his ass off over dynamic beats", however, "Cole isn’t reacting to the heat of the challenge anymore" and that "he’s comfortable", potentially "complacent". Concluding her review, Fitzgerald wrote that "while Disc One is all heart-driven bravado, Disc Two settles into Cole’s interpretation of love".[26]
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