DJ Akademiks says he's impressed by the sales projections for J. Cole's new album, The Fall-Off, which dropped last Friday. According to projections from Talk of the Charts, the project will debut on the charts after moving 300,000 album equivalent units during its first week of availability. In turn, Akademiks says the project has solidified his place in the big three of hip-hop.
"Him being in the big three, clearly selling over 200 is a prerequisite. I do believe that anything over 220 would be good. 250 I thought was gonna be pretty cool as well, but him doing 300 shows that, number one, he can't retire. There's a lot of demand for him, even though he claims he's gonna be taking a step back," Akademiks said during a recent livestream.
He continued: "I think 300 is a really dope number for him. I think it also helps establish that, as people keep saying that music and sales are down, if we're talking about the big three, I think J. Cole and Kendrick are around the same level in terms of sales. I don't think consistently. I think J. Cole just hasn't dropped in a while, and this was hyped up as maybe the last. It's the fall-off. But, I think if Kendrick had dropped, which Kendrick supposedly is going to be dropping, Kendrick, I believe would be in that 300 range as well. I think Drake would be in the 500/600 range."
Of the big three as a whole, DJ Akademiks added: "If you're wondering about the status of the big three. I think the big three are holding their position. Drake is a 500k person, Kendrick is a 300k type of guy, and J. Cole is a 300k type of guy. I don't think no one else cracks anything over 250." He ended by suggesting that Nicki Minaj and Future could reach 200k sales.
What's Next For J. Cole?
Following the release of The Fall-Off, J. Cole discussed the future of his career during an "AMA" with fans on social media. In doing so, he explained that he plans to switch his focus to producing music for other artists.
"I got a genuine love for music, and the blessing in dropping this album is that I'm highly inspired. I have no interest in making more 'J. Cole' albums, but my passion and excitement right now is in producing. I will write, I will record when it hits me. Release new music if the spirit says to do so. But The Fall-Off is a project I won't try to top," he said.
As for what that will look like, he added: "I wanna make beats, produce for other artists, even if I'm not making the beat. Just helping to craft the vision. That's a big passion of mine that I haven't been able to lock in on cuz for years my focus was on ME and my story. I think my gift is maybe even greater when I'm in a more selfless role."
Despite the plan, Cole still plans to drop his mixtape, It's A Boy. "No it’s not scrapped," he wrote of the project. "It will release. We almost put it out before the album. But with the birthday blizzard tape and 24 song album we was like it’s a lot of music to process."
