J. Cole’s Producer Elite Shares Highlights From “Born Sinner”

Working on one of the year’s most anticipated projects, J. Cole’s Born Sinner, Elite has much to share about the making of the album. Recently, Elite spoke on the process and shared some highlights about the experience. 

“First of all I was blessed, he told Page 31 about “Let Nas Down.” “That was an incredible song to be a part of. He called me in the studio when he sampled the joint. He’s like, ‘Yo I got this joint I want you to hear.’ Yada, yada. But he hadn’t recorded it yet, so he plays the beat and he’s asking me should we change anything. I’m like, “Dog, this shit is perfect. It sounds great. Just leave it how it is. Then he went into the booth and recorded the whole song all the way through. I think he might’ve done it in one take! Or at least maybe two. So I never heard the story. I’m hearing the story live as he’s rapping it in the booth. So I didn’t know. I didn’t know Nas didn’t like it. So I’m like what? This is incredible. To this day I still get chills when I hear the song and the honesty.”

He also explained how “Crooked Smile” came together.

“It was just an epic production and an epic story. It was just long. It was weird. It was one of those songs were every time we worked on it, it significantly improved. Sometimes when you work on songs and you touch it, it can take a step back but this one was just like gigantic steps forward every time. We worked on it for months.

The two have been working alongside one another for some time now. Elite shared this story about how they recorded certain works in a bedroom studio. 

“I had a bedroom studio,” Elite explained. “I just recently upgraded to a more professional situation. We were like bedroom producers. That’s the generation we’re in now. He recorded a bunch of ‘The Warm Up’ at my crib, microphone in the closet. ‘Heartache,’ I produced for him on ‘The Warm Up’ and ‘Playground.’ We were in a nice little zone.” 

J. Cole’s Born Sinner is set to be released June 18, the same date as the expected drop date for Kanye West’s Yeezus project. 

RELATED: J. Cole Fought “Negative Thoughts” While Making Born Sinner