J. Cole has released the first single from The Fall-Off, just hours after announcing the album.
Uploaded under the title “The Fall-Off… Disc 2 Track 2” — a hint that his forthcoming (and final) project could be a double disc effort — the song is a storytelling masterpiece that would make Nas proud.
Taking inspiration from Esco’s “Rewind,” the North Carolina native lays out his life story in reverse over soulful, southern-fried production from DZL and Maneesh — touching on his death, legacy, parenthood, marriage, career milestones and eventually his birth.
“My grandkids carried the coffin to the altar as they burst into tears from their shirts / The tears rise to the sides of they face and into their eyes, it’s piercin’ with hurt / Fast forward 60 years, I got versе of the year, my purpose is clеar, it’s to murk / Whoever dare flirt with death, the best alive and what you now hear is the work,” Cole spits, his confidence clearly undented by the backlash to his decision to bow out of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef.
Bringing the autobiographical song to life is a clever video from director Ryan Doubiago, which moves in reverse through different rooms to capture J. Cole’s reflective rhymes.
“The Fall-Off… Disc 2 Track 2” ends with a bonus snippet of an unreleased song — presumably from The Fall-Off — which uses the same Whispers sample as Mobb Deep‘s 1996 2Pac diss song “Drop a Gem On ‘Em.”
At the beginning of the video is a message explaining the concept behind The Fall-Off, which is set to arrive on February 6 and is being billed as J. Cole’s final album.
“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,” the Dreamville rap star wrote.
“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.”
Earlier on Wednesday (January 14), Cole officially announced The Fall-Off through a short but cinematic trailer which provides some further insight into the long-awaited album.
“Everything is supposed to go away eventually,” a voice says over shots of Cole cleaning his Lamborghini at a car wash and eating a meal on his own at a diner. “You see this especially in show business with famous actors or musicians. And it’s like, ‘Oh, this guy used to be famous and then he ‘fell off.’ What happened?’
“And they want to point to, ‘They did this and this and they made some sort of mistake.’ Instead of thinking that, look, it’s kinda crazy they got famous in the first place. So few people reach that level that yes, of course, it’s not gonna last forever because somebody else has to take that spot.
“And that’s how show business has been since forever. But no, they always want to say, ‘That guy fell off.’ They want to look down on him for just going through the natural cycle of rising and falling.”
