J. Cole Shares How Much Jay-Z’s ‘Villematic’ Co-Sign Means…

After the arrival of Friday Night Lights On streaming services, J. Cole once again shared what it meant to him when Jay-Z showed his love for his track “Villematic.”

To the latest episode of Cole’s limited audio series InevitableCole spoke at length about his breakthrough mixtape Friday Night Lights. “Villematic,” a fan favorite that features Cole freestyle over Kanye West’s “Devil in a New Dress,” received a major co-sign from Jay-Z, who signed Cole to Roc Nation in 2009.

“The reaction I got from Jay to that song – he didn’t hit me or anything, but we were at that Yankee Stadium show,” he said, referring to Hov and Eminem’s big performance at Yankee Stadium in September 2010 . Cole said that even though he was signed to Jay-Z’s label at the time, it would still be “rare” for him to see him.

“I always thought, ‘This is someone I idolize and I really respect, but I still want to do it alone,'” Cole said, emphasizing that he wanted to be seen by Jay-Z “as a peer.” Cole’s manager Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad added: “They made it a point to say, ‘I won’t bother this n***a.'”

While he was backstage at the show, which also featured artists like Drake and Dr. Dre was a guest, he ran into Jay-Z leaving the artist lounge. “He said, ‘Cole! Yo, my n***a,'” Cole shared. “I’ll never forget it because he said it… ‘That ‘Villematic?’ He called it “Vill-er-matic.” He said, “Woo! That’s my favorite joint I’ve ever heard you do.” That was a moment for me.

“Villematic” was released shortly before the Yankee Stadium show and later appeared as part of the Friday Night Lights Mixtape. At the project’s streaming debut this week, Cole said it was “a very special moment” for him to finally make the mixtape widely available.

“I want to thank everyone out there who has kept these projects alive, even during all the years they haven’t been available on streaming services, especially this project,” Cole wrote on social media. Many of the project’s tracks were originally intended for his debut album, but were put together due to a lack of support from the label he put together Friday Night Lights.