Travis Scott’s new album UTOPIA has no shortage of A-list guests, but J. Cole was close to joining its star-studded supporting cast.
During his Circus Maximus concert in Rome, Italy on Monday (August 7), where he performed his latest project for the first time, Scott revealed that the Cole-assisted “MAFIA” was originally supposed to be on UTOPIA, but he decided to swap it out for “I KNOW ?” at the last minute.
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“Before we do this song, this is like one of my favorite songs, so if you know this shit just sing it with me,” he told the crowd before launching into a performance of the track.
After his rendition of “I KNOW ?”, La Flame added: “So we was in the studio and I had a choice on either putting [‘Mafia’] on the album or I could’ve put [‘I KNOW ?’]. And this song just ended up being one of my favorite songs I recently did and it was actually the last song I did on the album.”
The Boi-1da and Jahaan Sweet-produced “MAFIA” arrived as part of a two-pack of singles alongside “ESCAPE PLAN” in November 2021, shortly before Travis Scott’s tragic Astroworld Festival that resulted in 10 deaths.
Last week, it was reported that Scott and Live Nation had quietly settled a lawsuit with a third victim’s family, as 14-year-old John Hilgert’s family decided to settle out of court for an undisclosed sum.
While “MAFIA” didn’t end up making the UTOPIA cut, it seems like La Flame still intends on performing the track when he hits the road for his accompanying North American tour this fall.
Travis Scott and J. Cole did connect years prior in 2019 on “The London,” which also featured Young Thug.
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UTOPIA exploded onto this week’s Billboard 200 by debuting atop the chart thanks to 496,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.
All 19 of the album’s songs also cracked the Billboard Hot 100, with the highest-charting track being the menacing, Drake-assisted “Meltdown” at No. 3.
