Growing up my friend group was always full of Cole fans and I was only known as the resident Cole hater. Besides Forest Hills Drive really, I was always super critical of his albums, made the NyQuil jokes, said most of his discography was mid. In 2026, I still generally feel the same about his discography as a whole, but after seeing him perform at Dreamville Festival four years straight I do have to admit my respect for the guy has gone up a lot (went back down a little after you-know-what), even if I still think his album output ain’t all that.

Which brings us to The Fall-Off. Do I think the album sounds like the ten-years-in-the-making magnum opus retirement classic that he played it up to be? Absolutely not. I think it’s a good album overall, but the hallmark Cole flaws are on full display for most of its runtime.

But damn. The way people been talking about this s*** online the last 24 hours, you would think this guy dropped an album as bad as Teenage Emotions

I can’t lie, some of the jokes do still get a chuckle out of me

But on the other hand, it does feel like people just outright hate the nigga no matter what he does. To an extent, I get it, I’m not the biggest fan of his work overall, but I also really don’t understand the level of vitriol that seems to be directed towards him nowadays

Every artist gets hate on social media these days who cares, album will still do well sales wise and he will tour and reviews for the album will probably be good overall

Reading op put me to sleep more than disc 2 did lols. Just joking

Haven't really seen anything about this on social media thankfully

Did he forgot the names just like Steve Harvey

All the tweets s***ty on Cole have been absolutely hilarious

o s*** its actually out both j cole n asap released underpar efforts at the start of the year it seems (haven't listened to either n not in a rush to )

*starting to feel bad

Bro jus dropped his retirement album

how do you know it’s under par and haven’t even hit play

this what i meant by hiphop listeners have let the internet compromise them, niggas reading too many comments and never hitting play once by the time they hit play, their ears have already determined they not gonna enjoy it

Why would you feel bad when he’s a legendary rapper who will never have to stress about anything for the rest of his life because of his career and more than likely about to sell out a tour for his latest work. Seems like he winning to me

it’s cause these niggas think they Kendrick or Drake, were offended in the SoundCloud era, genuinely took the J Snore memes seriously, or just never liked Cole and can’t take a step back and honestly interact with the art lmfao

If you actually walk around and experience real life you will see people actually enjoy it !

Not going to let bots from India, Russia and Uzbekistan form my opinion of an album

Thank you!

asked someone older than me if they heard it (a millennial) and bro said he only got through Disc 29 cause he just kept running it back lmfaooo

and that sparked a conversation with other people around us

dudes just enjoy trolling with random people on the internet and forget that this hiphop s*** still alive and being discussed

Album title is too on the nose but I understand it considering where he’s at in his career, this happens to everybody

Niggas talk about Jay and Nas crazy. Been like that a good portion of my life. I grew up in the south so I had to hear a lot of hot takes about they music lol plus they come from a past generation

Cole is gon be solid though. He has a strong fanbase and built a career off making relatable music. Outside of the apology, I don’t think he’s done too much to compromise how people view his legacy. Gotta respect that

How are they under par if you haven’t heard them

KTT in a weird place now where Carti, Thug and Future get praised/supported more than Cole, Drake and Kendrick

The hate is overblown and I say this as somebody who frequently s***s on Cole and his dorky ass fanbase.

The album is definitely filled with the worst kind of J.Cole-isms and the long ass runtime with few features doesn't do much to break up some of the monotony. But when the album is good, the production being the highlight and his talent as a rapper is on display, it shines.

Album is a 7/10, maybe 6/10 at its worst. It's not a bad album, but it's definitely not going to convince the most avid Cole hater.

Thug been getting rightfully shat on lately

Why is cole ripping his gay cousin in safety

ktt has always showed Future love and rightfully so

Cole is good except his concepts themes and messages often suck horribly

After 10 years of hyping it up

KTT been that edgy

Cole is a great rapper who rarely has anything worth saying.

No coincidence his best songs are usually him lusting over a friends girl on some h**** type s***.

Only stuff he don’t have to force