Is J. Cole hanging up his mic after releasing his upcoming album, The Fall Off?

Cole made a big music announcement via Instagram on Tuesday evening (Dec. 29), appearing to reveal he has multiple projects in the works. However, the Instagram caption of the revelation has people thinking retirement is near for the rap superstar.

The photo itself features a list of goals titled The Fall Off Era, under which are a list that Cole wrote to signify things he wants to achieve. The words Features and ROTD3 are crossed out, signifying they have been completed. It's no surprise J. Cole went on a crazy feature run in 2018, and in 2019, he dropped Revenge of the Dreamers III album, which went on to receive a 2020 Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Album. The words The Off Season, It's a Boy and The Fall Off are under that. The caption reads, "I still got some goals I gotta check off for’ I scram..."

The Off Season may relate to 2020, a year in which Cole only dropped two songs, "The Climb Back" and "Lion King on Ice." And It's a Boy could be the fact that he welcomed his second son this year.

While elated that we may be getting new Cole music soon, some fans have grabbed on to the "[before] I scram" part in the caption, which appears to imply that The Fall Off album will be the North Carolina MC's last project.

"J. Cole pretty much just confirmed his retirement from rap will be after The Fall Off sad too see the first rapper I really got hooked on retire," one Twitter user posted.

"J. Cole basically announcing his retirement," another person wrote on Twitter. "Sad af. First artist I ever really got into. Crazy crazy."

Not everyone was totally sad about the retirement speculation. "Much love & respect going out to @JColeNC!" someone else typed on Twitter. "The Fall Off might just be your retirement plan. Always looking forward to what you're planning to release next. Let the journey lead you into prosperity. You're incredible, bro!"

Cole first revealed The Fall Off album via the final track of his most recent album, KOD released in 2018. A few weeks later, he confirmed the album. In 2019, he teased a 2020 release for the LP. It was later revealed that the coronavirus delayed progress on the album. Then Cole released two singles, "The Climb Back" and "Lion King on Ice," in July.

See more Twitter reactions from people thinking J. Cole is going to retire after The Fall Off below.

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