J. Cole’s manager has disputed claims that the rapper charged a huge fee for his guest verse on Lil Durk’s “All My Life,” calling “cap” on the notion.
Cole’s longtime manager Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad took to Twitter on Monday (June 5) to respond to a tweet from RapHouseTV alleging that Cole made Durk cough up $978,000 for his feature on the song.
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Hamad simply replied with a cap emoji, while Durk’s DJ also debunked the report by writing on Twitter: “False news we ain’t never paid for a feature… Ever!”
The aforementioned tweet didn’t provide any evidence for their claim, and seemed to merely be citing Cole’s verse on Young Thug’s “The London” on which he rapped: “A verse from me is like eleven birds/ I did the math it’s like $2,000 every word.”
Lil Durk previously spoke about “All My Life” in an interview with Complex last month, and admitted that J. Cole bodied him on his own song.
“He smoked my ass on that one, for one — barely,” Smurk said when asked about his experience working with the Dreamville don. “That barely happens. But shout out to J. Cole, shout out to [Dr.] Luke, we made it happen.”
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Durk also spoke about “All My Life” in a separate interview with Apple Music, and said the song came about because he was feeling “moody” and knew J. Cole would be the perfect fit.
“Whatever mood I’m in, I just go to the studio and just make the music,” he said. “I just feel like a positive vibe went up with Dr. Luke, you know what I’m saying? That’s the first song he played and I just felt it and I’m like, ‘Man, I want J. Cole on this.’”
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He continued: “And I made it happen. I’ve been talking to him, checking up on him, just seeing how you doing. You wait for the right moment for him to ask to be on the song. The song be big.
“I just wanted to be like, ‘I want J. Cole on the song.’ So when we do the song, the first person popped in my head, I’m like, ‘I got to get J. Cole on this.’”
“All My Life” debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and appears on Lil Durk’s latest album, Almost Healed, which dropped on May 26.
The project itself made a splash on the charts, bowing at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 after earning 125,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.
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That figure marked the largest sales week of Durk’s solo career, surpassing his previous effort, 7220, which opened with 120,500 units last March.
His commercial peak, however, remains his 2021 joint album with Lil Baby, The Voice of the Heroes, which debuted atop the Billboard 200 with an impressive 150,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.
