J. Cole is still grateful to Kanye West.
During Cole’s headlining set at Dreamville Festival on Sunday night, he looked back on sampling Ye’s classic song, “The New Workout Plan” from 2004’s The College Dropout.
“I know n***a*s feel a way about him right now, but I got love for [Ye] and I really appreciate him. He cleared all these fucking samples for me,” Cole said to the crowd. He then recalled viewing Ye’s song in a different light one day.
"I ran back to the other room," Cole said. "It’s like it spoke to me.” He wound up sampling West’s song for his own hit record, “Work Out” from his debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story.
The track was the lead single for his September 2011 project, later peaking at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 3 on US Hot Rap Songs, No. 10 on US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and No. 1 on US Rhythmic. Cole World: The Sideline Story opened at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, moving 218,000 copies in its first week.
Cole took some time to reminisce during his headline set this weekend. He also told his audience about being signed to Roc Nation in 2009 and Jay-Z asking him to hop on The Blueprint 3 album cut, “A Star is Born.”
“We walk in the studio. I'm already nervous,” Cole said. “I see this n***a Jay-Z and who the fuck was right next to him? Beyoncé. Oh my God. My motherfucking heart damn near fell out my chest.”
He continued, “‘Damn, I'm already feeling pressure and this n***a wants me on a song," he added. "He got fucking Beyoncé right next to him. Okay, no problem. I'm built for this.’”