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Rapper J. Cole recently revealed details about two unreleased collaborative songs he recorded with Kendrick Lamar back in 2010. Cole shared the stories behind the tracks, titled “Shock the World” and “Temptation”, on the latest episode of his “audio series” podcast Inevitable.
The songs were recorded around the time the two rappers were considering doing a joint album together, Cole explained. The two first connected when they were both featured on the 2010 XXL Freshman cover.
“When I dropped ‘Blow Up,’ I remember him hitting me like, ‘N—a, I need one of those!'” Cole said, recalling how Lamar was impressed by the beat on that track. The two stayed in touch, and Cole eventually sent Lamar some of his beats.
“When I was out in L.A., he came by No I.D.’s studio and I linked with him… I played him the beat for ‘HiiiPoWeR,’ I played him ‘Temptation’ with my verse on it, I played him a couple of other joints that had one verse on it,” Cole said.
Surprisingly, Lamar seemed hesitant to take the songs from Cole. “When I played them for him, I was like, ‘Bro, you can have these if you want.’ 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—a, are you sure you want to give me these?!'” Cole remembered.
Lamar went on to tell Cole, “Bro, you sleeping on yourself.” This struck a chord with Cole, who acknowledged it was the “stone cold truth” about how he was feeling at the time, more focused on scoring a big hit than appreciating his own strong work.
Lamar did eventually make use of the collaborative tracks, playing them for fans at a meet and greet. But the songs have never been officially released – until now, with Cole sharing them on his Inevitable podcast.
