The Fall-Off

EDIT: Nothing much changed.

I’ll wait a week and see how the album grows on me, but right now it feels like J. Cole had a great concept that wasn’t executed properly. His songwriting is still strong. The first disc is solid and well put together, while the second disc feels more personal but also a bit messy. The 2nd disc has some sleepy moments if you’re not into it for the lyrics. His singing parts were a bit decent though I wish someone else did it. The features were underwhelming ngl (Future on an Alchemist beat was unexpected lmao). It’s still a good album overall, but not quite what you’d expect from a retirement/final album.

J. Cole is one of the realest rappers of this generation and that’s what I like about him the most. While many rappers try to fit in, Cole stayed true to himself without pretending to be someone he is not. Some people call him weak for apologizing, but honestly, it takes a lot of maturity and courage to do that, and I have respect for him for it. I do agree that his projects are not always put well together (except FHD AND 4YEO) but his generational 2018-2023 feature run, strong story telling, technical ability, competitiveness, longevity, not chasing clout and successful independent label can’t be ignored. I do hope that he releases music occasionally, but if this really is the end, he retires as one of the best rappers of this generation.