JAY-Z once infuriated J. Cole by proposing that Drake assist him in creating a hit song.
Cole’s manager Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad mentioned during the new audio series Inevitable by the Dreamville rapper that the incident took place at a dinner in 2011 hosted by Hov and LeBron James.
“We’re chatting — me, Cole, Drake, Future [the Prince, who co-manages Drake],” said Ib. “Then Jay enters and notices all of us gathered.” He says, ‘Yo!’ and turns to Drake, telling him, ‘Yo, give the boy one.’
“[He] gestures towards Cole as if to say, ‘Let him take a hit.'” We’re all thinking, ‘What?‘ I can still picture Future’s expression being, ‘That’s awkward.’”
Cole himself explained why the remark intensified the awkwardness: “There’s a real rivalry [between Drake and me].” From a commercial standpoint, it lacks competition, but culturally, it’s still a sport with rivalry among fans who ask, ‘Cole or Drake?’
“And furthermore, I have a track featuring him on the project I released three months back!” he continued, mentioning “In the Morning” from his Friday Night Lights mixtape.
Ib then disclosed that Cole was not very pleased with his label head’s proposal: “I felt embarrassed for Cole, I felt embarrassed for Drake. What I recall is being at the dinner afterward, and I’m just staring at Cole, who appears angry.
“I felt warm,” Cole mentioned.
The North Carolina native stated that he confidently confronted JAY-Z about the comment later that evening while he was intoxicated from Hennessy.
“I recall approaching him.” As I come within about seven feet of him and he notices me coming, he glances at me as if to say, ‘Cole! Only one, just provide me with one. “Kindly!” Cole remembered. “His hands are clasped together, resembling the praying hands emoji.”
“I’m like, ‘Hey, can I ask you something’ — I’ve never talked like this to Jay ever — ‘when you were creating Reasonable Doubt, did you have anyone suggesting that you needed a single?’ He replied, ‘No, I didn’t.’
“I asked, ‘So why do you keep doing that to me?’ […] I added a bit more in there.” I remarked, “You’re here trying to convince me that I need one, advising me to collaborate with [pop production duo] Stargate.” It’s simple to associate me with Stargate since they have already worked on ‘Black & Yellow’ by Wiz Khalifa. Where is the vision?
“He was like, ‘They’re on our side.’” “We signed Stargate.” And I thought, ‘Precisely. Wiz achieved success alongside them. “You didn’t include me with them prior to the strike.”
J. Cole then remembered Jigga’s thoughtful reply to his earnest inquiry: “One of the numerous things I admire about Jay is that this n-gga listened to me state that, contemplated it briefly and said, ‘You’re right. I appreciate that. “You are correct.”
He mentioned, “That stuff felt great.” It felt satisfying to express that, it felt nice to have been welcomed. And from that point on, I never heard about it again, like, ‘Where’s the single?’”
Cole recently talked about his attempts to impress JAY-Z, even though the rap icon had already signed him to his newly established label Roc Nation.
In a past episode of Inevitable, the “Middle Child” MC mentioned that Jay sided with him after he released “Villematic” in late 2010, a freestyle over Kanye West’s “Devil in a New Dress.”
“The response I received from Jay regarding this track — he didn’t strike me or anything, but we were at that concert at Yankee Stadium [with Eminem],” he mentioned. “You need to realize that back then, sure, I was signed to Jay, but it wasn’t as if Jay was my close friend.” No, encountering Jay was an uncommon event.
“I always thought, ‘This is someone I greatly admire and truly respect, yet I still want to pursue it independently.’” I wished for [him to view me] as an equal [instead of as a younger sibling].”
Cole then remarked: “I noticed Jay exiting the artist lounge where family and friends gather, and he said, ‘Cole! Hey, dude!
“I’ll always remember it because he said it like this: ‘That ‘Villematic’?!'” He referred to it as ‘Vill-er-matic’ [laughs]. He exclaimed, ‘Wow! “That’s my favorite piece I’ve ever heard from you.” “That was a significant moment for me.”
