J. Cole has offered a rare glimpse into what could have been, revealing that Kendrick Lamar was originally featured on multiple tracks for his long-awaited album The Fall Off.
Speaking during a conversation with Cam'ron on Talk With Flee, Cole reflected on the moment he first heard Kendrick's high-profile collaboration with Metro Boomin on "Like That" and how it intersected with his own rollout plans.
"My first reaction is, that shit is hard… it's a hard ass verse, undeniable," Cole said. "The beat crazy, the song is ill… he went crazy."
But that initial admiration quickly gave way to a more complicated feeling.
"My second reaction is… not now," he admitted. "This is inconvenient for me."
At the time, Cole explained, he had just wrapped a tour run with Drake and was preparing to release Might Delete Later while also sitting on a nearly completed version of The Fall Off.
"I had this album finished… maybe a couple mixes left," he said.
That's when he dropped a surprising detail: Kendrick had already been part of that process.
"At that time… he was on two joints," Cole revealed, confirming that Lamar had recorded verses for multiple songs tied to the project.
Cole also touched on behind-the-scenes complications, suggesting that parts of the album had been leaked prematurely, something that may have further disrupted his plans.
While it's unclear whether those collaborations will ever surface in their original form, the revelation adds another layer to the long-discussed creative relationship between Cole and Kendrick. Both have been closely linked throughout their careers, often mentioned alongside each other as defining voices of their generation and most recently as opponents during Drake and Kendrick's feud.
