J. Cole‘s 4 Your Eyez Only documentary aired on HBO in 2017 following his album of the same name. The 49-minute film, co-directed by Cole and Scott Lazer, featured Black voices telling stories of strength and showed struggles across modern-day America.
The documentary included an unreleased song known as “Want You To Fly” on Genius and YouTube, and on Monday (September 7), the full version leaked under the title “Javari.” On the track, which features three verses, Cole talks about being put on Earth for a reason and how his lyrics can help some people more than the Bible.
“God is real and he usin’ me for a bigger purpose/So fuck the world that would have you think that a n***a worthless/Sometimes I think that these verses can help a person way more than the ones they readin’ in churches on days of worship/No disrespect to the Lord and Savior, that ain’t just ego/I just observe that them words no longer relate to people,” he raps.
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In 2019, Cole responded to a fan who said they were patiently waiting for the song to be released.
“Bet then ?? @KingOfQueenz they ready for it,” Cole said, telling his manager Ibrahim ‘Ib’ Hamad that they should drop it.
Bet then ?? @KingOfQueenz they ready for it. https://t.co/AWxtPKhfAu
— J. Cole (@JColeNC) February 8, 2019
4 Your Eyez Only, the LP, was released in December 2016 and serves as Cole’s fourth studio album. The documentary was Cole’s second on HBO following his Forest Hills Drive: Homecoming special in 2015.
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Cole has released three songs so far this year. The first was “Snow On Tha Bluff,” a track addressing Chicago rapper Noname that touched on police brutality during the George Floyd protests. The other two, “The Climb Back” and “Lion King On Ice,” dropped together as an EP titled Lewis Street — both are set to appear on Cole’s upcoming album, The Fall Off.
J. Cole joined protestors in Fayetteville, North Carolina in May, following the death of George Floyd. This wasn’t the first time Cole took to the streets to fight against racial injustice, having visited Ferguson, Missouri after the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014.
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In July, Cole teamed up with PUMA for his own basketball sneaker called the RS-Dreamer and was involved in everything from the initial inspiration to the final design.
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“Over the years, basketball shoes have progressed greatly in their level of technology and comfort but have strayed too far away from designs stylish enough for cultural relevancy,” Cole said. “The Dreamer hopes to change that reality. The highest level of on-court performance meets the highest level of aesthetic design for daily wear. Once again, you can hoop in the same shoes you wore outside.”
Revisit “The Climb Back” and “Lion King On Ice” below.
