J. Cole’s shot selection and pen-wielding never come into question, but prolific producer No ID poked a teensy little hole in the Dreamville top dog’s game while chopping it up on the latest episode of Spotify’s The RapCaviar Podcast with host Brandon “Jinx” Jenkins and Hit-Boy.
“I used to have a running joke with J. Cole, like, ‘Yo, I’m gonna have to do a session with you so I could do a beat that you’re not gonna use that I could get off. I just need your inspiration,’” No ID said with a laugh. “It was a week or two we was working in the beginning. For him, I did the ‘Control’ beat, Nas’ ‘Stay,’ ‘Tears Of Joy,’ ‘My Last,’ and something else. And it was just like, ‘Nah, that ain’t it.’”
J. Cole really passed on the beats for:
Big Sean – Control
Nas – Stay
Rick Ross – Tears of Joy
Big Sean – My Last pic.twitter.com/o6O6lMBaJj— RapCaviar (@RapCaviar) October 7, 2022
Big Sean dropped “My Last” featuring Chris Brown in 2011, and it spent two weeks atop Billboard‘s Hot Rap Songs chart. Sean’s “Control” was a juggernaut in 2013, thanks to Kendrick Lamar’s eviscerating verse that put everyone on notice, including Cole: “But this is hip-hop, and them n****s should know what time it is / And that goes for Jermaine Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Wale / Pusha T, Meek Millz, ASAP Rocky, Drake / Big Sean, Jay Electron’, Tyler, Mac Miller / I got love for you all, but I’m tryna murder you n****s.”
Nas included “Stay” on his 2012 album Life Is Good that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, while Rick Ross’s “Tears Of Joy” featuring Cee-Lo was a standout on 2010’s Gold-certified Teflon Don.
On RapCaviar, No ID also dished that the beat for Beyoncé’s Renaissance track “Church Girl” was done over four years but he “forgot about it” because it was just sitting on Jay-Z’s computer. Hit-Boy one-upped No ID by sharing the beat for “Thique,” another Renaissance track, was finished eight years ago in the same session as Nicki Minaj’s “Feeling Myself,” though he has shared that story before.
Watch the clips below.
The beat for @Beyonce’s Church Girl was made over four years ago and No I.D. forgot about it
#RapCaviarPodcast pic.twitter.com/iOA49i7Rli
— RapCaviar (@RapCaviar) October 6, 2022
You never know when an artist might use your beat.@Hit_Boy made @Beyonce‘s THIQUE eight years ago in the same session that he made Feeling Myself for @NICKIMINAJ
#RapCaviarPodcast pic.twitter.com/iw7NQTfvG7
— RapCaviar (@RapCaviar) October 6, 2022
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.