In an interview with VIBE, Roc Nation rapper J. Cole revealed that he came very close to joining 50 Cent‘s G-Unit label. The North Carolina native said that he impressed members of the G-Unit crew after he visited 50 Cent’s home several years ago.
“I ended up in Connecticut at 50’s crib and he wasn’t home that night but people were still in his crib,” he recalled. “[Tony] Yayo, Sha Money and a couple other people were there — Yayo was going nuts, like, ‘Son!’ When I see Tony Yayo today we still talk about that. It was a crazy night. After that, Sha Money was trying to f*ck with me heavy. He was like ‘Son, look, I’m playing 50 your s–t.’ Supposedly the story is that he played 50 my s–t and 50 wasn’t sure. Like, ‘I don’t know, man. Is he one of these skinny jeans n—as?’ He couldn’t see it, but it was a good time in my life. It was brand new, fresh. Being in that crib was amazing.”
Cole also shared that he intended to reunite New York hip-hop mainstays 50 Cent and Nas on Cole’s track “New York Times.”
“[Reuniting them would have been huge.] Exactly. For hip-hop, period,” Cole said. “But really for New York. I wanted that to be a real New York record. This down South n—a coming and putting on for the city because I have a connection. So 50 came to the studio in L.A. to lay the verse and he heard the melody and he was like, ‘I could tell you was thinking about me when you were doing that melody.’ He wrote that s–t in five minutes, maybe. It was crazy to see that melody that was in my head come to life with the actual person who I wanted to do it. He gave us three hours worth of game that night, just talking.”
