Lil Durk & J. Cole Spent Two Years Looking For "The Right Record" To Collab

BYGabriel Bras Nevares1.5K Views
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Lil Durk J. Cole Two Years Right Record Collab
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The Voice wanted this team-up to be special, because he knew how much potential it had. Now, he knows how much it paid off.

It might seem silly or too soon to start thinking about which songs from 2023 will get nominated come next year's awards season. Still, if you're going to entertain yourself with that notion, "All My Life" by Lil Durk and J. Cole seems like a surefire prediction. Moreover, the track is a perfect blend of contemporary style, timeless messaging, and impressive lyrical displays, bridging all sorts of worlds within hip-hop. What's more is that the collaborators spoke for two years before finally landing on this record in particular. During his latest interview, Smurk expanded to Nadeska on how the song came about.

"He went super cr*zy," the Chicago MC said of the North Carolina native's performance on the cut. "And it's so cr*zy because we'd been talking for, like, two years. He'd always be like, 'Send me a record.' And I'm like, 'I gotta find the right record.' Man, I'm glad it wasn't three years. In my eyes, he a legend so if you have a chance to do a song with a legend, you either send them something just to send it, just to say you got one, or you gon' make it stick. But that's why I never just sent him a record. 'Cause I'm like, 'I want something that's gon' stick.' Yeah, as soon as I did the record, he's the first person that popped into my head. I'm like, 'I got it.' Yeah, that's why I believe in timing. Timing is everything."

Lil Durk On Waiting For The Right J. Cole Collab Record

Of course, this is far from the first time that Lil Durk praised J. Cole's performance. "I had to listen to it like four times," he said of the verse. "You know I ain’t super big on lyricist-type rappers. With Cole, [he] was one of the ones, like him and Jay, you gotta play them 50 times to catch what they’re saying. Like, if you listen to Lil Wayne right now, and you heard some s**t ten years ago that you just catch onto today. But he definitely gave me one of them verses and I appreciate it. ‘Cause he ain’t even have to, for real. He could’ve gave us anything."

Meanwhile, Cole's manager Ibrahim Hamad clarified rumors that The Voice paid him almost a million dollars for the feature. While he quickly called cap on that number, such a moment this year was surely priceless for many fans. One can only imagine what other dream track team-ups Durk is waiting for the perfect moment for. For more on Lil Durk and J. Cole, stay up to date on HNHH.

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.
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