The one time J Cole rapped in a British accent: “I didn’t wanna fuck nothing up”
Anyone who has ever sat through Don Cheadle’s performance in Ocean’s 11 will be perfectly aware that Americans are not especially renowned for their ability to do English accents. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, Cheadle’s cockney patois is perhaps the worst attempt at an accent ever committed to film, which, weirdly, makes it somewhat endearing.
In any case, Americans doing English accents have a patchy record at best, but that didn’t stop J Cole from giving it a go on a track a few years ago. But, by the grace of all that is good and holy, it was nowhere near as ropey as Cheadle’s attempt. To the contrary, it can probably be best understood as a gesture of goodwill towards the UK rap scene.
Cole got to wield his accent as a guest on Bia’s 2022 single ‘LONDON,’ which was later included on her 2023 album Really Her. For her part, Bia was thrilled to bring a star as big as Cole on board for her project, as she enthused to HipHopDX during a red carpet appearance at the 2022 BET Awards. She couldn’t conceal how impressed she was with his contribution to her track—specifically with the fact he did a little English accent.
“I lost it because, Cole, really every single bar is so crazy,” she gushed. “Crazier than the last one. First of all, who rhymes that good? In an accent? I thought I was going to be the only one doing the accent, but he did the accent. So, he killed it. It was such an honor to have him on the song.”
Cole, by this stage in 2022, had established himself as a veteran of the rap game, but he admitted to feeling some nerves about contributing to Bia’s track—because he loved it so much. Following its release, he posted on Instagram to explain that he was “blown away” by her the first time that he met her and heard the music that she was working on. The track she presented stuck with Cole for several weeks, which is surely always a good sign. “I thought about this song for a month straight, it was my favourite song and I only heard it one time,” he claimed.
Eventually, Bia reached out to Cole, and the idea that he would add to the song was introduced. But Cole was worried about messing it up. “She hit me recently and sent me the song (she musta knew I wanted to hear it again!!!),” he posted, “and I was just grateful to have it in my possession. When the thought and conversation came up about me adding a verse, I was excited but genuinely nervous cuz I didn’t even see how the song could be better after what she did to it. I didn’t want to fuck nothing up! I’m grateful I ended up catching the right wave.”
The pair seem to have both been genuinely delighted to work with each other on the track, and, during the July of 2022, they actually got to perform it together in the city that gave it its name. J Cole was headlining Wireless Festival, which takes place in London, so he fittingly brought Bia out to join him on stage for a surprise rendition of their song.