J. Cole admits that he was slipping. The Roc Nation MC, who just dropped a five-song project called Truly Yours, had his hands on a pair of No I.D. beats that eventually became Nas’ “Stay” and Rick Ross’ “Tears Of Joy,” but he snoozed on locking them down.
The “Can’t Get Enough” rapper detailed how his versions came to be but were eventually left off his first proper album, Cole World: The Sideline Story. According to Cole, the “Stay” instrumental from Nas’ Life Is Good album was the first songs he just had to have on his debut.
“We did the most incredible songs in one week. We did ‘Not Too Late,’ ‘Stay,’ ‘Never Told’ and a few more joints that haven’t even come out yet,” Cole revealed to MTV News of getting into the studio with No ID. “‘Stay’ was towards the end of the process — he just looped up this sample, and while he’s looping up the sample, I’m writing the words, and before you know it, I have the song.”
However, although Cole loved his version of “Stay,” he lost out on it because he failed to pay for the beat. Nas didn’t make that mistake. Continued Cole, “As time goes on, I’m not solidifying it, which basically means I’m not locking down the beat from No I.D. Long story short, I didn’t buy that beat from No I.D., and Nas bought that beat. He didn’t even know I did a joint on it either. I don’t even know if he knows, but I had that sh-t first.”
Hey, it’s not too late for a remix.
As for “Tears Of Joy,” Cole half stepped on the paper again. But he swears that’s the last time that will ever happen. “The same thing happened with ‘Tears of Joy.’ I smacked myself. That’s two classics that was supposed to be mine. But ‘Tears of Joy,’ I couldn’t have did what Ross did on that, because [I] was in a bad place. Me and No I.D. was in the studio, but the label was on me about some hits, so it was a bad session. I squeezed out a verse on ‘Tears of Joy,’ but I was not in a good place to do anything close to what Ross did on that. But I still smack myself about those.”
We think some more J. Cole and No I.D. sessions are in order. Don’t you?
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Photo: MTV
