J. Cole Calls His Past Albums “Side Quests,” Says The Fall-Off Isn’t a Goodbye

With the release of The Fall-Off, J. Cole has prompted fans to reconsider how his catalog fits together. In a recent installment of his “Trunk Sale” tour vlog, he spoke candidly about where the album sits in the larger arc of his career. The project, he suggested, serves as the culmination of a story he has been telling since his early mixtape days. In that framing, some of his midcareer releases function less as central chapters and more as creative departures.

“If you hear the whole progression from The Come-Up, The Warm-Up, Friday Night Lights, The Sideline Story, Born Sinner, 2014 Forest Hills Drive,” Cole said, in comments shared by NFR Podcast, “Those, then going into The Fall-Off, it’s the progression of my whole life.” He went on to explain, “To me, 4 Your Eyez Only, KOD, The Off-Season, and even Might Delete Later, those are side quests. 4 Your Eyez Only and KOD, concepts. The Off-Season and Might Delete Later is like practice. It’s just lyrical exercise. It’s just me practicing to get to The Fall-Off, which is the continuation of the J. Cole story. Jermaine’s life story in the form of this J. Cole character.”

For some listeners, the phrase “side quests” landed as a surprise, given how deeply those albums resonated upon release. Cole, however, appears to be describing structure rather than value—distinguishing between records that advance a personal narrative and those built around thematic concepts or technical focus. His explanation casts The Fall-Off as a return to autobiography, picking up threads left after 2014 Forest Hills Drive.

Closing the Book on Jermaine—Not the Music

He also described the album as a kind of closing statement. “So when you hear me say, ‘This a suicide note / Come here and look what I wrote,’ it’s me basically saying, I’m done with that,” he said. “I took you to the end. I took you to 29 years old, ’cause that’s when Forest Hills Drive dropped. So I took you back to 29. Then I gave you the life update at 39. I don’t have nothing else to say as Jermaine via J. Cole.”

That does not necessarily mean an end to music. “I’ma rap probably, I’ll hop on a song probably. I might even f*k around. If I get inspired enough, I may do an album,” he added. “But I don’t care to continue that story.” For now, he is carrying the project on a global tour, presenting what he sees as the final chapter of a narrative two decades in the making—a body of work that, whether neatly divided or not, continues to invite close reading from his audience.