With the arrival of his long-awaited album The Fall-Off, J. Cole has delivered a track that sees him rapping from the perspectives of friends-turned-enemies The Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac
“What If” features an atmospheric piano-led beat, courtesy of Beat Butcha and TaeBeast, and features a verse from both of the late rapper’s perspectives. Cole imagines how things could’ve gone if the two rappers’ relationship never escalated into the deadly East Coast-West Coast feud.
“What if the bullshit never got in the way?” he raps in the intro to the song. “I’d still have my n***a to this day.”
In the first verse, he takes on the persona of Biggie, adopting a flow not dissimilar to the iconic NYC rapper’s distinctive delivery.
“What’s up, Pac? / I hear that record that you did that just dropped, it’s bubblin’ / got me wonderin’ when the love stopped,” he raps. “‘Hit Em Up,’ I’m like maybe I should / RIght you be ‘fore shit go left / The streets is a bit upset / You claimin’ that you fucked my bitch / But, check, instead of escalatin’ / At a time when n***as say ‘Big, let’s decimate ‘em’ / I’m tellin’ him chill ‘cause although he violatin’ / In my heart I could never hate ‘em.”
The verse ends with Biggie apologizing to Pac, whom Cole raps from the perspective of in the second verse, adopting a more aggressive flow similar to Pac’s.
“I gotta find you in person to look you dead in yo eyes / And let you know I’ve been hurtin’,” Cole raps in the second verse, which features multi-track vocals similar to what Pac did with his music. “Been movin’ off pure adrenaline never knowin’ for certain who’s on my side / And who’s obliged for closin’ my curtains / So in a mist with clinched fist I picked up this war / I know there’s money in violence, I know there’s profit in war / But shit I felt you left me to hang.”
As with the first verse, Cole wraps it up by apologizing.
“Yo letter helped me understand / The power in love, the choice to be the bigger man,” he raps. “Know shit got outta hand / I’ll take the blame for it / For my mistakes, I couldn’t take you gettin’ slain for it / For fallin’ victim to ego, vengeance, and dollar signs / I wanna say from the heart, ‘I apologize.’”
The track notably comes after Cole got involved with the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef, only to back out days after releasing his since-deleted song, “7 Minute Drill.” Cole’s decision to apologize was met with a mixed but mostly negative response from the hip-hop community, with Jadakiss saying he was “confused” by his apology at Dreamville Fest, while JID suggested that his apology was “a selfless act.”
After years of teasing, The Fall-Off finally arrived on Friday. Listen here.
