It has been fascinating to see how differently Kendrick Lamar’s ostensible rivals Drake and J Cole have reacted to the Compton prophets’ devastating 2024 run. Their disparate approaches have varied wildly; while Drake apparently sought legal recourse for his public embarrassment (to the disappointment and disapproval of fans online), Cole has taken another, seemingly more apologetic tack. In the latest episode of his nostalgic “not-a-podcast” podcast Inevitable, J. Cole shared a pair of previously unreleased collaborations with Kendrick.
“Shock The World” and “Temptation” were recorded in 2010, around that time everyone thought they would release a joint mixtape together. Cole recounted how their meeting at a 2010 U-N-I release party (now, there is a name I haven’t heard in quite some time), which led to Cole giving K. Dot a few beats to mess around with — including the aforementioned titles and the 2011 Section.80 standout “HiiiPower.”
“When I played them for him, I was like, ‘Bro, you can have these if you want,’” Cole recalls. “I remember he said — and it always stuck with me ’cause I had never heard nobody say this to me before — he was looking at me like, ‘N****, are you sure you want to give me these?!’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, go ahead, take them.’ He was like, ‘Bro, you sleeping on yourself.’ It struck me because it was actually the stone-cold truth of my reality at that time. I was so focused on getting this unicorn hit for my album that I was actually sleeping on the shit that I did well.”
It seems inevitable that this will prompt another round of fan requests for that joint tape (which is, perhaps, Cole’s intention after he flubbed his chance to outrap Kendrick earlier this year), but it also seems equally unlikely that the GNX rapper will be taking requests for the foreseeable future.
You can hear the full story on Inevitable, which you can listen to here.