By now, you've likely heard "Off Deez," in which J.I.D. and J. Cole trade murderous verses in the name of Dreamville. Now, with DiCaprio 2 set to arrive by month's end, J.I.D has sat down with Bossip to discuss his new project. As it happens, "Off Deez" actually has an interesting backstory; in another universe, we might not have heard Cole's verse at all.
When asked whether "Off Deez" was tailored to J. Cole, J.I.D. admits that the original plan was slightly different. "I record everything by myself at the crib," explains the Dreamville lyricist. "I didn’t send it to [Cole] first. I sent it to–I sent it to Kendrick first. Facts!" He explains that Kendrick was busy during TDE's The Championship Tour, but he figured it was worth a try. " I knew it wasn’t gonna happen and it’s understandable because he’s a superstar and has obligations. I sent it through the proper channels it just didn’t work out, but he f*cked with it."
He then considered Ski Mask The Slump God, playing it for him during their XXL Freshman Freestyle. "I made it the around the time of the XXL freestyle back in maybe April. I played if for Ski Mask The Slump God but he got busy and I know the situation with X affected him a lot." Afterward, he was about to tackle the second verse, when he decided to send it to Cole.
"Then I sent it to Cole like, “You fu*k with this record? It’s hard, right? I’m bout to kill it and do the second verse” and he’s like “Hey, save me a lil’ piece on there” and like, “What? You wanna get on this one?” explains J.I.D. "And we got sh*t, but he was just moved when he heard it. I’m trying some different sh*t and trying new patterns and he’s just competitive and he’s f***in’ elite at what he does so when he got on there it just made sense."
As always, real recognize real. Though it might have been nice to hear Kendrick on "Off Deez," few can dispute that J. Cole absolutely murdered it. Keep an eye out for DiCaprio 2, dropping on Monday, November 26th. Peep the full interview with J.I.D. right here.