If you watched J. Cole’s story from the sidelines, you might recall how Jermaine
made mention of being in the studio with No I.D. at the early stages of his first LP, who ended up being one of the only producers besides J. Cole on the debut album. In speaking with
Complex, Kanye’s mentor details how two of his biggest records were actually intended for the little nigga from the Ville. If you ask me, it adds to Cole’s legend that he passed on seemed like a golden opportunity with those sure fire bangers and
still went gold.
No I.D.: “That record was actually made for J. Cole during one of his sessions. I told Cole it was going to be a single and he said ‘Nah, I don’t know about that one.’ So I passed it for Sean while he was working on his album, and told him this would be the one, and he said ‘I don’t know about that.’ He thought it sounded too commercial or whatever.
“I told him we needed someone to get on the chorus—maybe get Drake or Kanye on the chorus. But then Sean had a relationship with Chris Brown, and once Chris got on it I knew it was gone. Sean always tells the story about how he fronted on the record, but then when he’s performing the record in front of thousands of people with their hands up in the air, he says ‘Damn, No I.D. was really right about this one.’ [Laughs.]
No I.D.: “The funny thing about that beat, is that one was made for J. Cole. J. Cole is a producer, and a lot of what I was doing for him wasn’t just giving him beats—I was helping him. When you’re O.G. status you’ve gotta give back, so I was guiding Cole and helping him do his thing. So I didn’t really sweat him passing on all of these records because I knew they’d find a good home.
