J. Cole has pivoted out of his plans for an early retirement .

The two-time Grammy winner was previously believed to be ending his music run with his seventh studio album, The Fall-Off , which was released in Feb. 2026. After hinting at the possibility of leaving rap on songs like “False Prophets” and chronicling his road to The Fall-Off in a vlog series earlier this year, the North Carolina native shared his change of heart in a new GQ interview .

When GQ culture editor Frazier Tharpe questioned if the Dreamville Records co-founder was still “throwing the concept of retirement around,” Cole shared his changed mindset around the 57-minute mark of the video below.

“No, I'm not using that word at all,” Cole said. “I was saying that I made The Fall-Off with intentions that it’s going to be my last shit.…