The rapper Jay-Z asked to write J Cole a number-one song: “Make a hit song”
Jay-Z, Drake, and J Cole have all had strange 2024s, and their reputations have all been tarnished. While the latter two artists have been embroiled in a highly embarrassing feud, Jay-Z has been involved in some extremely messy legal cases.
J Cole and Jay-Z have been affiliated for a long time, and the Brooklyn icon was the individual who put J Cole on the map when he signed the rapper in 2009. Despite Cole’s epic success following the legendary 2014 Forest Hills Drive, when the rapper first exploded into the mainstream, although he could make high-quality hip-hop, his mentor was looking for a crossover hit that could top the charts.
As such, only two years after signing him to Roc Nation, in 2011, Hov contacted one of the most capable hitmakers in hip-hop since he was in his prime. That mainstream force was Drake, and Jay’s request was simple: “make a hit song for J Cole.”
In 2011, Drake released his second project, Take Care, to critical acclaim that featured the hit track and club anthem ‘The Motto’, and Jay wanted that kind of acclaim to come Cole’s way upon the release of his debut Cole World: The Sideline Story.
Luckily for Cole, Drake wrote and featured on the track ‘In The Morning’. However, much to Jay-Z’s shock, it did not chart or make the impact he had expected from the young Toronto artist. During an episode of the J Cole mini-podcast, Inevitable: Sideline Story, his manager, Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad, recalled the moment Jay-Z asked Drake to help Cole reach a new level by giving him a hit record.
According to Hamad, the request was made during the 2011 NBA All-Star Weekend party hosted by Jay and LeBron James. Recalling the talk, Hamad detailed, “We’re having a conversation. Me, Cole, Drake, Future [the Prince]. I don’t know who else, but there were a couple more people. So then, Jay walks in and he sees all of us together. He goes, ‘Yo!’ and he looks at Drake, and he says, ‘Yo, give the boy one.'”
However, Hamad unveiled that, in an audacious move, Cole challenged Jay-Z about chasing hits. He recalled how Cole approached Jay about his comments and asked the Brooklyn icon if he had someone telling him he needed to chase a hit for Reasonable Doubt.
Hamad added, “In this particular instance, the thing that I respect about Jay, this nigga heard me say that, and he like, thought about it for a second, and he said, ‘You’re right.'” While it might have been a tense moment, to say the least, things all worked out, as Cole went on to receive a multitude of gold and platinum plaques, as well as Grammy nominations. Furthermore, the Fayetteville rhymer went on to be considered one of rap’s “Big Three” alongside Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
In recent times, especially amidst the downfall of Drake, many are questioning whether or not there ever was a “Big Three”, and, with Drake threatening to file his label Universal, many are asking if his status as a “Big” artist was due to his label working overtime instead of his talent.