On the Billboard 200 dated Feb. 21, J. Cole earned his seventh No. 1 album with The Fall Off. The 24-song set reeled in an impressive 280,000 equivalent album units, stiff-arming a surging Bad Bunny from pole position. Still, Cole’s legacy at the time of what he’s billing as this final LP feels unresolved, especially with the spirits of Kendrick Lamar and Drake hovering over his shoulders. The biggest question down the road won’t be how good J. Cole was; it’s how rap’s middle child fared against his long-time rivals and peers.
Since entering the game in the late 2000s as a burgeoning mixtape rapper, Cole built his name on hunger and honesty. A storyteller at heart, his agenda was simple: chronicle his world like a precocious field reporter. The Warm-Up captured his underdog glory and relentless chase for respect, while Drake’s So Far Gone swept through the nation like a typhoon, with “Best I Ever Had” blooming into a national hit. In 2009 — arguably the dawn of rap’s Big 3 era — Drake seized the moment, forcing Cole into the long game.
Undeterred by his second-place position, Cole mounted a 3–1 comeback for the ages. He dropped 2010’s Friday Night Lights, reunited with Drake on “In the Morning,” then rebounded from the stalled “Who Dat” with “Work Out” — a sticky radio bop powered by a lift of Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up.” The single climbed to No. 13 on the Hot 100 and cleared the runway for Cole World: The Sideline Story, which debuted at No. 1 with 218,000 copies sold, briefly silencing naysayers who rooted for his early exit.
Cole’s win was vindication, erasing any thought of him being a bust. Still, Sideline Story wasn’t strong enough to eclipse two masterworks that followed it in the coming years: Kendrick’s cultural opus Good Kid, M.A.A.D City and Drake’s emotional classic, Take Care. Even when Cole tasted victory, Kendrick and Drake reclaimed the crown, reminding him where he stood in rap’s hierarchy. This became the story of Cole’s career against his lyrical adversaries: always good, but never quite great enough. Kendrick has 28 Grammys to Cole’s 2. Drake has a whopping 383 Hot 100 hits to Cole’s 111. Kendrick and Drake fought for the crown of Greatest Rapper Alive in spring 2024, while Cole stepped away from the moment. In rap’s gladiator arena, there’s no grace for hesitation, and that hesitation defined Cole’s involvement in the clash of the century.
And though the constant chatter of “The Big 3” played on loop throughout Cole’s entire career – with Cole even alluding to it himself during his guest verse on Drake’s 2023 Hot 100 No. 1 “First Person Shooter” — it bred a bloodthirsty MC with cruel intentions. Cole’s widely acknowledged classic 2014 Forest Hills Drive, can arguably go against any album released by Kendrick or Drake. He became a walking meme after that project, with fans birthing the phrase: “platinum with no features” for Cole’s ability to crack seven digits with the project without the help of any guest MCs.
Then, he did the impossible two more times with 4 Your Eyez Only and KOD, solidifying his greatness as a man who can win on his own. And when he did come outside to play with his peers, he showed no mercy: His demolition run in 2018, 2021, and 2023, when he decimated every feature in sight, was otherworldly, cementing him as one of the best fire-breathing MCs alive.
In another era, Cole would arguably be the greatest rapper of his generation. It’s like Kawhi Leonard: Remove injuries and circumstances, and Kawhi’s skill set and productivity when healthy puts him in the Jordan, Kobe, LeBron tier. And like Kawhi choosing the Clippers over the Lakers, or leaving Toronto after the title, some of Cole’s wounds were self-inflicted — Cole didn’t need to drop “7 Minute Drill” and walk that back or use “Who Dat” as Sideline Story’s first single. You have to live with your choices, and both men are still great despite their decisions.
Aside from those blemishes, you can’t blame the circumstances and challenges Cole weathered. If anything, we should commend him for still putting up Hall of Fame numbers in a stacked era, where he was competing against two GOATs. Cole may never win the Big 3 debate, but surviving, thriving and always staying in the conversation might be an even greater accomplishment.
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