J. Cole had a lot of tributes to hip-hop on his new and presumably final album The Fall-Off, and one of its most apparent homages is to the late great DMX. The track "Life Sentence," the fifth track on the second disc, "Disc39," interpolates and slightly shifts the main chorus of X's classic relationship cut, 1998's "How It's Goin' Down."
"What type of games are being played? How's it going down? / It's on 'til it's gone, then I gots to know now / Is you with me, or what? Think I'm trying to get me a nut / Just 'cause honeys want to give me the butt, what?" the original chorus goes, focusing on a side guy who refrains from breaking up a family unit. But Cole's version emphasizes his marriage to his wife. "All types of games are being played, how's it going down? / It's on 'til it's gone and I gots to know now / Is you with me or what? A n***a really think he in love / I put this ring on you forever, what's up?" he sings on the cut.
This made many fans, including @1DJFirstClass on Twitter, to look back at DMX's praise of J. Cole during an interview on The Breakfast Club in 2012. "J. Cole is nice, J. Cole is nice," he answered when asked who was impressing him at the time. "I heard his first song on the radio before I even knew who he was. Like, damn, who's that? Just grabbed my attention like that."
Who Did J. Cole Sample On The Fall-Off?
This joins other J. Cole The Fall-Off updates in the discourse, whether it's fans continuing to unpack the music or witnessing what else he's doing to put the record out there. For example, there's his viral "Trunk Sale" tour in which he went around various North Carolina spots, selling CD copies of the project like in the good ol' days of his come-up.
Meanwhile, other J. Cole tributes to hip-hop on The Fall-Off include his version of Common's "I Used To Love H.E.R.," which shows up as the track "I Love Her Again." That cut also samples the Chicago artist's song, "The Light." These details and many more make the album as compelling as it is for hardcore listeners.
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