J. Cole recalls winning Jay-Z’s approval.
J. Cole continues new stories from his career in the ongoing audio series “Inevitable“. In the latest episode, the Dreamville boss revealed the song that impressed JAY-Z for which he signed him to Roc Nation label. The song was “Villematic”, the freestyle over Kanye West’s “Devil in a New Dress.”
“The reaction that I got from Jay on this song — he didn’t hit me or nothing, but we were at that Yankee Stadium show [w/ Eminem],” he reveals. “You have to understand at this time, yeah, I was signed to Jay but it wasn’t like Jay is my man. Nah, seeing Jay was a rare occasion.”
“I always was like, ‘This is somebody I idolize and really respect, but I still want to do it on my own.’ I wanted [him to look at me] as a peer [than as a little brother].”
Cole’s manager Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad then added: “Around that time there was the joke, There’s no picture of Cole and Jay. Jay don’t f–k with Cole. Which is funny, but the reality was you made it a point to be like, ‘I’m not gonna bother this ni–a.’”
Cole continued: “I see Jay coming out of the artist lounge where friends and family be at and he was like, ‘Cole! Yo, ni–a!’ “I’ll never forget it ’cause he said it like this: ‘That ‘Villematic’?!’ He called it ‘Vill-er-matic’ [laughs]. He said, ‘Woo! That’s my favorite joint I ever heard from you.’ That was a moment for me.”
J. Cole Credits Kanye West For Influencing His Music & Changing His Life
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