The one rapper who made Jadakiss re-write his verse: “It was funny to me”
Jadakiss has been rapping for a long time, but he knows when to take advice about his craft on board. Even though he can put a verse together by himself perfectly well, he’s happy to be told to rework it—even by a rapper nearly half his age.
During an appearance on The Breakfast Club podcast in 2023, Jada was asked if another rapper had ever stepped up to request that he rewrite any of his verses. There was, indeed, one who had done so.
“Kodak Black. My man Yak,” Jada revealed. “Yak told me to switch it, and it was a song about our moms.”
Jada and Kodak had worked together on the 2018 track ‘Mama,’ which, as Jada referenced in his answer, was a tribute to their respective mothers. The song is full of sentiment and love, with Kodak declaring in the chorus, “Mama you my hero.”
The verses emphasise the point. “I wrote this song tonight for you / Nobody know me like you do,” Kodak raps during one of his. “And I don’t know how much I need to repay you / You never wash your hands with me and I thank you.”
Jada is in similarly tender form on the track, rapping, “Mama you my number one / Never be another one / Ride or die by my side, even when the trouble come.”
But Jada’s verse on the recording wasn’t as he initially wrote it, as Kodak, who was only 20 at the time, stepped in to request that his rap elder rework it. He thought Jada could do better.
But despite being far older and more established than Kodak, Jada was happy to oblige. “I’m like, ‘Yak,’” Jada recalled on the podcast. “I switched it and he like, ‘No doubt.’”
Jadakiss seems to think of himself as a good, receptive collaborator, which, evidently, is something he views as positive. “I’m a person that’s easy to work with,” he said. “It was funny to me.”