Join Music IV Breakfast hosts Octavia March and Relle Roulette as they break down J. Cole’s long-anticipated album The Fall Off, a project nearly a decade in the making that Cole began conceptualizing around 2016 and teasing publicly since 2018. The album is deeply personal, from its cover art—shot in the exact room and chair where he made his first beats at 15—to its double-disc structure, with “Disc 29” reflecting his hometown mindset at that age and “Disc 39” capturing his perspective at 39. The intro samples mathematician Andrew Wiles, symbolizing years of quiet dedication, while tracks like “The Fall-Off Is Inevitable” were carefully crafted over long, focused sessions. The project features uncredited appearances from artists like Future, Tems, and Erykah Badu, production from heavyweights including The Alchemist and Boi-1da, and callbacks to his earliest work, including his 2007 mixtape The Come Up. Hidden gems throughout—such as “False Prophets,” recorded for this album years ago, and references to “The Storm,” the first song he ever wrote—bring Cole’s journey full circle.