The sixth episode of J. Cole’s Inevitable series aired earlier tonight, in which he looks back on everything from the release of Friday Night Lights to his debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story “Time of release.
In this episode, Kerr and Ib tell a particularly funny, never-before-heard story that took place at JAY Z and LeBron James’ “Two Kings” dinner during the 2011 All-Star Weekend. Cole needed a single to honor his memory.
Cole’s manager Zlatan Ibrahimovic told the story. “We were talking. Me, Cole, Drake, Future (Prince). I don’t know who else, but there were a few people. Then Jay walked in and he saw us all together. He was like ‘Yo! “He looked at Drake and was like, “Yo, give that boy one,” pointed at Cole, and was basically like, “Punch him.” We were all like, “What?” I even remember Future’s look on his face like, this is so embarrassing.
Cole clarified, “He looked at Drake, pointed at me, and basically said, ‘Give him a hit, give my son a hit.'” They noted that despite being friends, Cole and Drake are In the period of fiercest competition. They also just released a song together called “In The Morning” three months ago.
According to Ibrahimovic, Cole was not happy about this. “I just remember at dinner after that, I just looked at Cole and he looked pissed off.” Later that night, the Fayetteville rapper ended up confronting Jay Z, accusing him of being on “Justified” Doubt” to pressure him to make a big single would be disingenuous, and that’s not the case with him.
Of course, he ended up making “Work Out” and releasing his debut album later that year to great commercial success, but it’s very interesting to hear stories from that era that we don’t know.
You can view the audio series here. In other news, Cole will be releasing two new versions of 2014 Forest Hills Drive, with a total of 8 bonus tracks.
