J. Cole‘s new album The Fall-Off is finally here — and it contains a particularly powerful song written from the perspectives of two of hip-hop’s biggest icons.
On “What If,” the Dreamville star imagines a world in which 2Pac and Biggie buried the hatchet, diffusing the infamous East Coast-West Coast beef that tragically claimed both of their lives.
“Perhaps you might’ve felt that I betrayed you or played you / Or thought that I knew about that set-up and coulda saved you,” Cole raps from Biggie’s point of view, referencing ‘Pac’s 1994 Quad Studios shooting that he blamed on the Bad Boy rapper.
“Or maybe that made you come out on some war shit / East Coast, West Coast, now media’s tryna force it … Well fuck that, n*gga, I’m hurt / I miss my dawg, I ain’t gotta hide / If I hurt you, I apologize.”
Stepping into 2Pac’s shoes, Cole depicts the hurt, paranoia and chaos that plagued his final months before accepting Biggie’s olive branch and forming a truce with his former friend.
“‘Cause tears fillin’ my eyes, your letter helped me understand / The power in love, the choice to be the bigger man / I know shit got outta hand, I’ll take the blame for it / For my mistakes, I couldn’t take you gettin’ slain for it,” he spits over Dr. Dre-esque production from Tae Beast and Beat Butcha.
“For fallin’ victim to ego, vengence, and dollar signs / I wanna say from the heart, ‘I apologize.'”
Billed as J. Cole’s eighth and final album, The Fall-Off is a double-disc effort clocking in at 24 songs, with features from Future, Erykah Badu, Burna Boy, Tems and Petey Pablo.
In addition to Tae Beast and Beat Butcha, production comes from The Alchemist, Boi-1da, T-Minus, Vinylz, Jake One, Carter Lang, Wu10, DZL and J. Cole himself, among others.
Though the North Carolina native doesn’t directly address his controversial decision to bow out of his rap battle with Kendrick Lamar — as many fans were hoping — he does allude to it on “39 Intro,” rapping: “Never in my life did I think I’d see the day / Where n*ggas wanna play with my name, but okay / I’m goin’ back in.”
Elsewhere, Cole reimagines Common‘s classic song “I Used to Love H.E.R.,” penning his own complicated love letter to hip-hop on “I Love Her Again” (which also samples the Chicago MC’s Like Water For Chocolate hit “The Light”).
There are plenty of other samples, interpolations and homages to Cole’s hip-hop heroes throughout The Fall-Off, making the album feel like one big ode to the genre that he holds dear.
The Erykah Badu-assisted “The Villest” blends OutKast‘s “Elevators (Me & You)” hook with a reworked version of Mobb Deep‘s “The Realest” beat; “Life Sentence” borrows the chorus from DMX‘s “How’s It Goin’ Down”; and “Poor Thang” samples Boosie Badazz‘s Southern rap anthem “Set It Off.”
Prior to its release, J. Cole described The Fall-Off as “bring[ing] the concept of my first project [2007’s The Come Up] full circle.”
“Disc [one] 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,” he wrote on Instagram.
“Disc [two] 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.”
Stream The Fall-Off below.
J Cole doesn’t make my butthole swole like Drake does for me.