The Fall Off, which has been much anticipated, will be the next album from J. Cole.
On “To Summer, From Cole,” the first track from Summer Walker’s new Clear 2: Soft Life EP, which was released on Friday (May 19), the Dreamville don made the announcement.
The song serves as a “audio hug” from Cole to the Atlanta singer and features a touching line from Walker in between, evoking his empowering poetry about self-acceptance towards the conclusion of Logic’s “AfricAryaN.”
He raps, “I’m thinkin’ about you, I heard you just had you another little baby/ Congratulations, I hope you got through it without any complications/ I find it amazing, the way that you juggle your kids, the business, the fame, the bitches that’s hatin’/ They sit around waiting for you to fall off like the album I’m making.
The father of two also discusses how becoming a parent has softened him in other verses, spitting: “Session 32 bring me to tears, be getting chocked up when I hear it/ Seem like I keep crying off so much since an n-gga had these kids/ And I don’t know what it is that makes me so sensitive, more than I already was.”
The Fall Off was first revealed by J. Cole in 2020, when he shared an Instagram post outlining his release schedule for “The Fall Off Era.” The Off-Season, his sixth album, which was released the following year, It’s a Boy, a potential project, and The Fall Off were all referenced in the article.
The Fall Off is the album that Cole’s longtime manager, Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad, would most like to see the rapper perform front-to-back on tour, which lately increased interest in the project.
The Fall Off may be J. Cole’s last album, making its release melancholy even though more information is still lacking. Despite only being 38 years old, the Grammy winner has mentioned retiring several times this year.
“Just buy ‘The Fall Off’ and he’ll explain/Is this the end of the chapter? In the Dr. Dre-sampling “Adonis Interlude (The Montage)” from the Creed III album, he rapped, “Happily ever after?/ Bet this gon’ be the year that full his reign, man.
He also rapped, “Some days, I wonder if I need to pick a different hobby/,” on his “On the Street” collaboration with K-pop superstar J-Hope of BTS. I’m deeply involved with this rapping, as everyone is aware. It’s difficult to let go of the past, but you have to let her develop, just as a father watching his daughter walk down the aisle while crying.
Summer Walker and J. Cole, on the other hand, seem to have just developed a friendship. The R&B singer gave a performance at Cole’s Dreamville Festival in April, and the two were afterwards seen having a good time and shooting baskets at an after-party at Dave & Buster’s.
More A-list talent can be found on Walker’s Clear 2: Soft Life EP, which also features Childish Gambino, Solange, and Steve Lacy. Watch the entire project below: