J. Cole revealed he was suffering from succes on “Procrastination (Broke),” a loose track he recorded in January over a J. Cole type beat he found on YouTube. On the track the 38-year old opened up about his disinterest in making music and admits he no longer possess the same hunger that made him a global star.
“It don’t help that I’m rich now, So that means that I don’t gotta deal/With stress of these creditors, callin’ my cellular/Like that young rapper that don’t got a deal,” he raps.
The rapper fears that fans would turn their backs on him and that his songs would no longer “hit like it hit” now that he’s “far removed from the struggles of every day folks.”
This week, Cole continued the dissertation on his life and career thus far and further hints at a possible retirement on BTS artist J-Hope’s farewell song “On The Street.”
“Some days, I wonder if I need to pick a different hobby/I’m deep in with this rappin’, it’s all a nigga know,” Cole raps. While he admits, “it’s hard to let it [rap] go,” he accepts that his rap career may be coming to an end.
“Like a father watching his daughter/Walk down the altar with tears in his eyes/You gotta let her grow/And so I shall.”
“I contemplate if I should wait to hand over the crown/And stick around for a bit longer,” he later adds.
As fans continue to await the arrival of his next album, light-skinned Cole puts them on notice and suggests the follow up to The Off Season could be titled The Fall Off, and hints at the release being his last. He made the confession on “Adonis,” a Dr. Dre produced cut from the Creed III soundtrack.
“Just cop the Fall Off and he’ll explain/Is it the end of the chapter, happily ever after,” he raps. He goes on to add “this gon’ be the year that fulfill his reign.”
J. Cole is not the first rapper to play around with thoughts of retirement. Last week Drake sparked conversations of an early retirement from music during an interview with Lil Yachty, where he discussed the possibility of a “graceful exit” from the industry.
“I’m at the point now where I just want to, like, and I feel like maybe we talked about this the other day, but I feel like I’m kind of introducing the concept in my mind of a graceful exit.”
Do you think J. Cole is about to retire from music? You can listen to both tracks here.
