Nicki Minaj Reflects On J. Cole's 'Dope' Response to 'FTCU' and Unveils Drake's Close Call with the Track | WhatsOnRap
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Nicki Minaj Unveils J. Cole's Response to 'FTCU' and Discloses Drake's Near Inclusion in 'For All the Dogs
Nicki Minaj reveals J. Cole's profound reaction to her track "FTCU" and the song's close inclusion in Drake's "For All the Dogs." After the launch of her latest album, Pink Friday 2, the Young Money rapper delved into the creative process during an interview with Apple Music 1's Ebro Darden.
While Cole contributed to the album with his verse on "Let Me Calm Down," his impact on Nicki extended beyond that track.
"After I played him that song, I played him ‘FTCU,'" she shared. "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].
"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."
Minaj continued to recountJ. Cole's reaction and how he advocated for her to include the track 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.
“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 the radio.’ He was like, ‘Who cares?’ He was like, ‘Man, fuck the radio.'"
Minaj showered praise on the Dreamville rap star, likening her time with him to 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.
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.
In a candid exploration of musical camaraderie, Minaj unveils the intricacies of collaboration and the genuine connections formed during the creation of her album.
