J. Cole Says He Is Not Retiring and Has Dropped the Word

J. Cole says he is not retiring, and he has stopped using the word altogether. He made the remarks during a sit-down in Las Vegas on Oct. 28 with his longtime manager, Mark Pitts, and GQ's Frazier Tharpe. Billboard reported the comments from the full GQ interview.

The talk about retirement grew out of his latest album, The Fall-Off. Cole said he made it as if it would be his last. It was released in February as a double-disc album, meaning two discs of music in one set, and became his seventh No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the chart that ranks the week's most popular albums in the United States.

Cole said that once he finished the album, he decided he would never say he was going to retire. He also spoke about his feud with Kendrick Lamar. He said Lamar had taken shots at him and Drake on Future's song "Like That," which came before their 2024 feud took off.

Cole said he had Lamar verses on his upcoming album at the time, which left him in a difficult spot about how to respond. He has also revealed that two Lamar features planned for The Fall-Off were scrapped after leaks.

The public exchange came to a head in April 2024. Cole dissed Lamar on "7 Minute Drill," from his earlier project Might Delete Later. Later that month, he apologised to Lamar on stage at the Dreamville Festival and bowed out of the feud. The track was removed from streaming services after the apology.

For now, Cole says the word retirement is off the table for him.