Nicki Minaj has spoken about J. Cole‘s reaction to her song “FTCU” and how the track nearly wound up Drake‘s For All the Dogs.
Following the release of her latest album Pink Friday 2, the Young Money rapper sat down for an interview with Apple Music 1‘s Ebro Darden to discuss the making of the project.
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Cole features on the album cut “Let Me Calm Down,” but his verse wasn’t the only impact that he made on Nicki.
“After I played him that song, I played him ‘FTCU,'” she said. “I was like, ‘Yo, I don’t like playing my music, but I’ll let you hear another song.’ So I played him that. And when that second verse came in, his reaction is why that song is so high [on the tracklist].
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“Because Drake had originally loved that song. While he was working on his album, he was thinking about if that could fit for his album as well. Because I sent it to him when I did it, because I loved the beat. But I wasn’t sure about the chorus.
“So then when J. Cole was listening to it and he was bopping, and then the, ‘High heels on…’ When that dude was saying goodbye and that shit dropped. If you would’ve seen him, it was the dopest fucking thing.”
Nicki Minaj went on to further describe J. Cole’s reaction to the song and how he pushed for her to include it on her album.
“He looked at me and he said, ‘I’ve never heard anything like that before,'” she recalled. “When you think about it, what haven’t you heard before? It’s simple words, but what struck me as so fucking dope was that he couldn’t articulate.
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“He was just like, ‘I never heard that before. I ain’t never.’ But that’s what made me go, ‘Oh, this is something that I should just leave alone.’ And you know what I said to him?
“I said, ‘Yeah, I like the song. I know I bodied the verse and I know the beat is hard as fuck, but I don’t like the chorus.’ I was like, ‘Because you wouldn’t be able to play it on radio.’ He was like, ‘Who cares?’ He was like, ‘Man, fuck the radio.'”
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Nicki Minaj was full of praise for the Dreamville rap star following their collaboration, describing her time with him like talking to a therapist.
“This man J. Cole had a 2 hour talk with me. 2. Two!!!!” she wrote on X last month. “Didn’t realize I was sitting on a therapist couch but ummm. 2 days later I heard this verse & couldn’t stop crying. The end.
“In a world where we know EXACTLY how & WHEN to tear each other apart, there are still Kings & Queens who know how to put ppl back together. Patch them up. Heal them. Empower them. Understand them. Listen to them. Make them do the most beautiful thing a human being can do. Smile.”
She added: “Cole… It’s been a long time coming, but the barbz welcome you with open arms to #GagCity. We appreciate you. We hope you stay.”
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Nicki later gave J. Cole credit for outrapping her on “Let Me Calm Down,” calling his verse “absolutely fuckin’ ridiculous.”
“That made me know that he respected me and cared about my project,” she told Joe Budden in a conversation posted to his Patreon account.
Watch Nicki Minaj’s full Apple Music interview below, with her J. Cole and Drake comments starting at the 22:49 mark.
