Lil Durk & J. Cole Spent Two Years Looking For "The Right Record" To Collab

It might seem silly or too soon to start thinking about which songs from 2023 will get nominated come next year's awards season. Still, if you're going to entertain yourself with that notion, "All My Life" by Lil Durk and J. Cole seems like a surefire prediction. Moreover, the track is a perfect blend of contemporary style, timeless messaging, and impressive lyrical displays, bridging all sorts of worlds within hip-hop. What's more is that the collaborators spoke for two years before finally landing on this record in particular. During his latest interview, Smurk expanded to Nadeska on how the song came about.

"He went super cr*zy," the Chicago MC said of the North Carolina native's performance on the cut. "And it's so cr*zy because we'd been talking for, like, two years. He'd always be like, 'Send me a record.' And I'm like, 'I gotta find the right record.' Man, I'm glad it wasn't three years. In my eyes, he a legend so if you have a chance to do a song with a legend, you either send them something just to send it, just to say you got one, or you gon' make it stick. But that's why I never just sent him a record. 'Cause I'm like, 'I want something that's gon' stick.' Yeah, as soon as I did the record, he's the first person that popped into my head. I'm like, 'I got it.' Yeah, that's why I believe in timing. Timing is everything."

Lil Durk On Waiting For The Right J. Cole Collab Record

Of course, this is far from the first time that Lil Durk praised J. Cole's performance. "I had to listen to it like four times," he said of the verse. "You know I ain’t super big on lyricist-type rappers. With Cole, [he] was one of the ones, like him and Jay, you gotta play them 50 times to catch what they’re saying. Like, if you listen to Lil Wayne right now, and you heard some s**t ten years ago that you just catch onto today. But he definitely gave me one of them verses and I appreciate it. ‘Cause he ain’t even have to, for real. He could’ve gave us anything."

Meanwhile, Cole's manager Ibrahim Hamad clarified rumors that The Voice paid him almost a million dollars for the feature. While he quickly called cap on that number, such a moment this year was surely priceless for many fans. One can only imagine what other dream track team-ups Durk is waiting for the perfect moment for. For more on Lil Durk and J. Cole, stay up to date on HNHH.