J. Cole has unveiled a second cover for his upcoming album, The Fall-Off, while explaining on Instagram why the project now has two album covers and sharing the stories behind each.
The original cover features a wooden chair in front of a table with a recording machine — a photo Cole says he took at age 15 of his first-ever recording setup. He says it’s where his “first beats were made” and where he recorded his song “The Storm.” He adds he initially felt that the “picture of where it all started for me felt fitting for an album that I made with the ending in mind.”
However, the concept expanded due to “the events that still feed the algorithm today,” seemingly a reference to the Kendrick Lamar diss on Future and Metro Boomin‘s “Like That” and all that followed. The experience, Cole says, left him “incredibly re-inspired” and ultimately led him to see The Fall-Off as a double-disc project.
“I felt there should be an additional cover that represented that. Something just as strong as the first, with my face on it,” Cole writes, “so that when I look back in 20 years, I can see an image of who I was at the time I released the project I worked on for so long.”
The second cover shows Cole standing against a red backdrop, wearing a denim hoodie with his hands in his pocket as he looks downward. Both covers are now available for preorder at thefalloff.com.
For the uninitiated, Kendrick was a feature on “Like That,” on which he rapped, “Motherf*** the Big 3, n****, it’s just big ME.” Cole responded with “7 Minute Drill” before later walking it back and issuing an apology. The ensuing backlash was addressed on the Birthday Blizzard ’26 mixtape.
The Fall-Off arrives on Feb. 6.
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