J. Cole easily dropped off one of the best hip-hop albums of the year with his latest opus The Off-Season. The 12-track body of work is unlike his other offerings in many ways but it was his desire to work outside of his comfort zone that truly helped him take the project to another level. He enlisted heavy-hitting producers, along with top-tier rappers, to flesh out The Off-Season.
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Among the many highlights on the project, it’s “Amari” that’s likely going to maintain a steady rotation in the coming months. Timbaland does have co-production credits but his involvement on the track was unconventional, to say the least. Apparently, J. Cole frequently seeks inspiration in Timbo’s Twitch streams which end up on YouTube. One particular video caught Cole’s attention but he was reluctant to reach out to Timbaland to ask for the beat, in case he never ended up using it.
“So I looped up the YouTube lil’ rip, made a whole song on this shit. I spent the next two days writing and recording the song, and right when I was 90% through writin’ it, I was like, I should probably call him now and get the real file,” Cole explained. “And I hit ’em. I was like, ‘Can you send me that beat you played on Twitch?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll send it to you. Which one?’ And I played him the beat and he was like, ‘I didn’t save that one.'”
Ultimately, he got Timbaland to remake it. Peep the clip below.