Jay Rock reveals Lil Wayne and Kendrick Lamar almost contributed to classic track
It’s odd to remember there was a time when Kendrick Lamar wasn’t one of the most respected names in hip-hop. Before Lamar’s rise and the release of his breakthrough project Section.80, K Dot was just another emerging rapper on the radar of fans. While his potential was evident, he had yet to solidify himself as a mainstream artist.
During this period, Lamar almost appeared on a track with two legends of the game, Jay Rock and Lil Wayne, but his part was switched out at the last minute. He recorded a hook on Jay Rock’s 2008 song ‘All My Life (In the Ghetto)’, which also featured Lil Wayne.
While the hook sounded strong, it was switched out for Black Eyed Peas alumni will.i.am, who recorded his own version for the track.
DJ Hed spoke about the lost feature while co-hosting The Bigger Picture for HipHopDX. “Fun fact about this record,” he said, “K Dot was originally on this hook, and I actually have that record. But it can never see the light of day.”
Hed recalled how the song sounded and how it differs from the version that people can listen to today: “He was doing a whole different hook. The song was called ‘Ghetto’, but it had a different hook on it that K Dot did.” The track eventually ended up on Rock’s LP Follow Me Home, which came out three years after the initial recording.
He also explained that the Lil Wayne verse we hear differs from the one originally proposed. Wayne brought his A-game to the recording, producing a long verse for his feature on the song. While the extended bars were appreciated, TDE felt they had to change the song’s structure.
“I probably shouldn’t say this but when Jay Rock did this record, Wayne gave them this long-ass verse and they cut it up,” he said, “Wayne was doing that at the time. Glasses Malone had a song called ‘Haterz’, and he did the same thing; it was like a 32-bar verse. In this song, Top was actually brilliant – and shout out to will.i.am, too – in arranging the song to where Wayne [and Jay Rock], it sounded like they were going back and forth.”
Kendrick has since worked with both Jay Rock and Lil Wayne. Lamar appeared on Lil Wayne’s track ‘Mona Lisa’, released in 2018. Meanwhile, Jay Rock appeared on the song ‘Money Trees’ with Kendrick, which has since cemented itself as a fan favourite.