J. Cole has revealed the tracklist to The Fall-Off ahead of its release this Friday (February 6).
The eagerly anticipated project, which serves as the Dreamville rapper’s eight and final album, features 24 songs across two discs, including the previously released “The Fall-Off Is Inevitable” (which dropped on YouTube earlier this month under the title ‘Disc 2 Track 2’).
Other song titles include “Two Six,” “Legacy,” “Bombs in the Ville / Hit the Gas,” “Lonely at the Top” and “and the whole world is the Ville” — a nod to Cole’s hometown of Fayeteville, North Carolina.
Guest features and producers remain under wraps for now, but the back cover does list J. Cole, his longtime manager Ibrahm “Ib” Hamad and multi-platinum hitmaker T-Minus as the album’s executive producers.
Along with the tracklist, the back cover is adorned with posters of some of Cole’s childhood heroes including Eminem, 50 Cent, Common, RZA and Canibus, among others.
The picture, along with the album’s front cover, was taken by Cole himself inside his childhood bedroom when he was a hip-hop-obsessed teen.
J. Cole — The Fall-Off (Tracklist):
Disc 1 (aka Disc 29):1. 29 Intro2. Two Six3. SAFETY4. Run a Train5. Poor Thang6. Legacy7. Bunce Road Blues8. WHO TF IZ U9. Drum n Bass10. The Let Out11. Bombs in the Ville / Hit the Gas12. Lonely at the Top (Bonus)
Disc 2 (aka Disc 39):1. 39 Intro2. The Fall-Off is Inevitable3. The Villest4. Old Dog5. Life Sentence6. Only You7. Man Up Above8. I Love Her Again9. What If10. Quik Stop11. and the whole world is the Ville12. Ocean Way (Bonus)
The 40-year-old MC also shared a note providing more insight into the concept behind The Fall-Off, which he says brings his pursuit of hip-hop stardom “full circle.”
“Some of the very first verses for The Come Up were written when I was just 19 years old,” he wrote, referencing his 2007 debut mixtape. “The title of that project, the first one that I would ever release, had a double meaning. There was the obvious one; my ambitions to ‘come up’ in the rap game. The second was more subtle; my physical change of location to do so.
“I was a delusional teenager from Fayetteville, North Carolina who had decided to leave home and ‘come up’ to New York City on a dream-chasing mission. When you listen to that project you hear a college kid with a real sharp pen, telling the world how he’s going to make it and proudly put his unknown city on the map in the process.”
Cole continued: “Towards the end of The Come Up, a couple skits tell a common story for me at that age. Me, driving back home from school on a holiday break, calling my mom to let her know I’m a few hours away, then calling my homeboys, excited to let them know I’m back in town, asking where the party at?
“The Fall-Off, a double album made with intentions to be my last, brings the concept of my first project full circle. Disc 29 tells a story of me returning to my hometown at age 29. 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.
“Disc 39 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.”
“Without giving away too much more, here is the back cover of The Fall-Off,” he added. “All pictures in this version of the album were shot by me. The front and back cover are photographs I took when I was 15. This back cover, that includes the tracklist, is a picture I took of the walls in my bedroom at the time.
“Thank you to every artist and photographer that cleared these pictures. I woke up every morning as a teenager quite literally looking up to yall. When this album releases please know that you, in some deeper metaphysical type way, are in the music too.”
