Review Summary: Going out without a bang
Cole’s been orbiting the hip-hop conversation for years—always hyped as a future great, always praised as a lyricist, but never living up the hype (outside the eyes of his passionate fanbase). But now, after a decade of teasing it, he’s finally dropped the mythical beast itself: The Fall-Off — the
supposedly final J. Cole album.
The Fall-Off has been teased since before the pandemic. The concept has always been that this album would be Cole’s grand send-off — his magnum opus, his statement for how he wants to be remembered.
The album largely touches on three main pillars thematically: (1) his hometown of Fayetteville and his relationship with it, (2) his career and place in rap, and (3) love and relationships. The album is also 2 discs with 24 tracks clocking in at 1 hour 40 minutes. This a long album with a lot to digest, so for this review I will break this into a few sections with a brain dump of thoughts.
Track concepts
There are some really good, interesting ideas and concepts explored here. Cole often tells stories from the perspective of others having a conversation with him, which works as an effective narrative device. On
'Safety', Cole uses old friends from his hometown leaving him voicemails to meditate on the passage of time and how people mature and change. One of the friends mentions previously engaging in homophobic abuse, which he now regrets and realizes was wrong.
'What If' sees Cole rapping from the perspectives of Notorious BIG and 2Pac squashing their beef through dialogue. You can question the ego of Cole to pull this idea off, but his dive into the psyche of paranoia, pressure and outside influences that lead to that fatal conflict is thoughtful. The album's lead single,
'The Fall-Off Is Inevitable' is some Benjamin Button *** as Cole walks through his life's events in reverse.
'The Let Out' also does a good job of using something as mundane as leaving the club at the end of the night to meditate on fear and death, as an acquaintance warns Cole someone is out to get him while he is in a vulnerable state.
There is no shortage of conceptual ambition. However many of these good ideas are nerfed by poor creative choices or uninspired performances. Most of these tracks end up feeling chill, sleepy or muted as a result.
Fayetteville
Considering how much Cole raps about his hometown, and how much reverence he clearly has for it, he doesn't do a great job of creating a sense of place, outside the broad, vague hardship. There is no imagery conjured or specific reference points. As someone the other side of the pond in the UK, I am left wondering how this is different to any other neighborhood in any city elsewhere.
Cole also seems to wrestle with his relationship with Fayetteville in many of the early tracks. On
'Safety', old friends are extolling their love for him. But on the following
'Run A Train', he seemingly rejects this kinship and seems jaded with his previous youthful idealism. He comes across as above it all. You could argue his passionless delivery on this track matches the theme, but its no more exciting for it. This conflict between his love for his hometown and feeling of distance to it and who he was then could have been interesting, if it just wasn't so boring to listen to.
Cole's Performance
This is my biggest beef with this album: Cole’s skill as a writer massively outweighs the passion in his performances. On so many tracks, Cole just sounds tired and passionless. Perhaps he is tired at this stage in his career, but it's a far cry from being a powerful, fireworks-ridden, emotional send-off. So many of these tracks sound like Cole is still wearing his pajamas in the booth with how sleepy he is. This really hampers the emotional impact of some of these high concept tracks.
The aforementioned
'What If' sees Cole adopting Biggie and Pac's flows for their respective verses. It's a neat touch and idea, but also exposes Cole as he lacks both the swagger of Biggie and passion of Pac. There is more to the rap performance than how words and sentences are enunciated.
Humblebrags
Oh my God, there are so many humblebrags scattered through this album. Cole cannot go more than a handful of songs without another character telling him how great he is. We get two in one song on
'Safety', as one friend just
has to mention Cole lending him money before he was famous, and another says the only way he can get his baby to stop crying is to play them Cole's music. SMH. In
'39 Intro' we get a bar about Cole going to heaven, seeing an old friend who begs him 'please Cole do one of your infinite raps for us'.
Production
The production across the board is washed-out, acoustic, lo-fi and low-energy. I swear 90% of this album has the same beige nondescript acoustic guitar beat, making so much of this feel like background music. The beats undercut the tracks here to a criminal extent and sap out any life or urgency of many tracks. This boring wallpaper production mixed with Cole's lack of standout passionate performances is ultimately fatal for much of this album.
It’s also shocking how there are basically no memorable hooks at all. While you can spend hours discussing verses on this album, the choruses are consistently weak and boring. We also get
way too much of Cole singing. He is not a bad singer, but he is not particularly good either and not once does his singing elevate a track. However there are many occasions he engages in singing when a rap verse would have been a more approriate way to punctuate one of the emotional highpoints.
Highlights
Despite how critical this review is, there are some highlights.
'The Fall-Off Is Inevitable' remains my favourite track on the album and has one of the rare good production choices. I enjoy the soulful, G-funk-ish beat and the 'walking through life in reverse' concept is novel. Cole doesn't use it to make any grand point or statement, but does make some emotional observations, such as his experience as a parent disappearing as he witnesses his sons birth be undone.
'Poor Thang' also has one of the better beats that matches the emotion and urgency of the track, and its also one of the few tracks where Cole sounds he like gives a ***. The track focuses on how the young get sucked into the cycle of crime and violence through their desire for belonging, love and acceptance.
'Quik Stop' is essentially one verse told from the perspective of a fan bumping into Cole and telling him how much he loves him (hello humblebrag!). The intensity ramps up as this guy spills his guts out and it has maybe Cole's most passionate performance on the album. It almost becomes his own 'Stan' moment, but then as soon as the verse ends, it drifts into this boring ass lo-fi chorus then just ends without a payoff.
Features
Tems stands out on
'Brunce Road Blues', but I can't say any of the other features add much. I know Cole thinks he is
the guy, but this album really needed some actual rappers to feature, to break up the constant flow of Cole and inject some much needed personality and life into the record. The majority of features are R&B-slanted, and on top of the already sleepy beats makes this a slumber party.
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So in conclusion,
The Fall-Off is a lyrically ambitious, thoughtful album packed with interesting songwriting ideas and concepts across consistent themes. But these tracks and ideas are fatally nerfed by the dreadfully boring beat choices and Cole's delivery failing to match his songwriting chops. At 24 tracks, you could down by two thirds to the best 8 tracks and probably be left with a
pretty good album, but there is just way too much chaff to separate from the wheat. Unfortunately, we are left with a mid album to a mid career.
