J. Cole Starts Dreamville’s Mixtape With Another Monster Verse

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In the last 24 hours, J. Cole’s Dreamville went to their bag of surprises to unleash a 15-song compilation. Instead of reprising the Grammy-nominated Revenge Of The Dreamers series, this time, the crew shares a DJ Drama-hosted Gangsta Grillz mixtape: D-Day. The move comes after Tyler, The Creator ushered “Mr. Thanksgiving” back to the mainstream with his Grammy-nominated CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST LP (which will be pending the awards rescheduled to this Sunday’s April 3 ceremony).

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The Dreamville affair kicks off with a scorcher from JID, Sheck Wes, Kenny Mason, and a cleanup verse from J. Cole. Produced by araabMUZIK (Jay Electronica, Slaughterhouse, The LOX), Griselda’s Beat Butcha, and Christo, “Stick” is sharp. According to Rap Genius, JID played a snippet of the song in late 2020 on Instagram. The track begins with JID and West Atlanta’s Kenny Mason creating a catchy-but-simple chorus in the vein of Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar’s “family ties” (also a weekend Grammy contender). Their chorus gives way to verses, eventually welcoming Milwaukee-by-way-of-Harlem artist Sheck Wes to the fold.

It’s towards the close, however, that J. Cole delivers a show-stealer, as far as lyricism. “Pray for me, God’s got a play for me / Me and them are not standing adjacently / Thirsty for the clout, talkin’ too brazenly / Bullet hit his mouth, at least he died tastefully / Good Lord has never forsaken me In God I trust, so I get money faithfully / Not just occasionally / Got to make cake every day like I work for a bakery,” Dreamville’s founder raps. Brandishing God and money, the MC keeps that energy and he backs down those thinking he’s a come-up, and uses basketball wordplay. “You crazy, you think you gon’ take from me / Not for extortin’, treat problems like Orkin, I call up some ni**as I know that’s gon’ spray for me / Speakin’ in code case they tapin’ me / Let off the whole f*ckin’ clip, leave a vacancy / I’m ’bout that two with the six, so I’m basically / Reppin’ more shooters than Rich Paul’s agency/ They get to clutchin’, you best get to duckin’ like 6’7″ ni**as that’s dunkin’ for Oregon / Money so long, if I start in the south and then spread this sh*t out, it’d be touchin’ like Portland / So it’s no wonder I’m walkin’ with caution, I know that God got his grace with me / But I’ll still treat a ride through the hood like a hike through the woods, got a stick that I take with me.

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D-Day also features Dreamville’s roster of Lute, Bas, EarthGang, Cozz, Ari Lennox, as well as O.G. Omen. 2 Chainz appears on multiple songs, while it also features TDE’s Reason, G Perico, Young Nudy, and A$AP Ferg. The Cool Kids’ Chuck Inglish, Jake One, !llmind, and Frank Dukes are among producers, with Cole providing multiple beats. On EarthGang’s “Everybody Ain’t Sh*t” song, DJ Drama pops off at any other crew or label that wants to compete with Dreamville.

On Sunday, J. Cole competes in all four Rap/Hip-Hop categories with songs from last year’s The Off-Season.

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On the AFH playlist, listeners can also hear other songs by J. Cole, JID, EarthGang, Cozz, Lute, and Bas. There are also new songs by Daringer & J Scienide, Phife Dawg, Buddy, Denzel Curry, Cypress Hill, Method Man & RJ Payne, Elzhi & Georgia Anne Muldrow, and more.

#BonusBeat: A recent episode of Ambrosia For HeadsWhat’s The Headline podcast examining J. Cole’s surge of top-tier feature verses: