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J. Cole reached a new lyrical plateau on his sophomore effort Born Sinner. Perhaps no track reflects this like the highly discussed “Let Nas Down.” In a recent interview with BET, Cole revealed that the Queens native had an opportunity to hear the song prior to the album’s release.

If you haven’t heard the cut, it features Jermaine recalling his feelings after hearing the Illmatic MC’s negative reaction to his successful Cole World: Sideline Story single “Work Out.”

“I wrote the beat at the house, wrote the rhymes at the crib, and then I waited til I got to the studio that night to record it,” said the Roc Nation rapper on the making of the track. “Three, four days go by, we got a show in Houston… I do the show, wake up the next morning, go to the airport at like 6 am.”

As fate would have it, Cole ran into Nas at a Houston airport only days after he recorded the self-reflective cut. Dreamville Records President, A&R, manager and the Roc Nation artist’s right hand man Ibrahim “IB” Hamad spotted the legend.

Nas also happened to be seated right behind Cole on the plane. He continued, “I give him my headphones—I’m trying to hear what part of the song he’s on, ’cause he’s behind me. About a minute into the song, he’s just like ‘whooo!’ beating my chair, just banging my chair. Overall he was wild, the look on his face was like, honored, honored that I would make that, and also highly impressed. So that was a huge moment for me.”

Hear the full story below. Also, hit the jump to watch Cole rip the microphone to shreds on the Funkmaster Flex show.

Photo: BET

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