J. Cole is back.
The North Carolina rapper followed up announcing the the long-awaited release date for his upcoming album The Fall-Off with what is looking like the project’s lead single. And while he didn’t provide a title for the song, he did hint at The Fall-Off being a double disc by naming the track “Disc 2 Track 2,” so it’s safe to assume the tracklist will be revealed in due time.
The video, directed by Ryan Doubiago, starts off with a disclaimer before taking us through an Inception-like labyrinth of Cole’s life in reverse as the rapper narrates his story in the same fashion almost reminiscent of Nas‘ “Rewind.”
The disclaimer reads: “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 the 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.”
As far as the production goes, there hasn’t been a producer credited yet, but fans have pointed out that he’s rapping over a leaked beat from the scrapped Drake and Ye collab album Wolves.
The Fall-Off will be J. Cole’s first full-length solo album since 2021’s The Off-Season, and his first project post-Big 3 battle when he released the mixtape Might Delete Later and walked back the Kendrick Lamar diss song “7 Minute Drill.”