J. Cole - False Prophets

"He's falling apart but we deny it. Justifying that half ass shit he drop, we always buy it."

Album: Released as a single
Genre: Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop
Single Release: December 5th 2016
Length: 4.21
Producer: Freddie Joachim
Vocalist: J Cole [age 31]
Label: RocNation Records

Music Video

Charts, Streams & Sales

USA: #54
USA: Certified gold on January 18th 2021
Spotify: 72,000,000 +
YouTube Music: 51,000,000 +

Credits

The beat was first used on Waves by Joey Badass
Main Sample: Gil Scotty Heron - Peace Go With You Brother (1974)

Drums Sample: Monk Higgins - One Man Band (1974). The sample starts at 2.14. Other artists to use the sample include Gang Starr, Jadakiss, Biz Markie, N.W.A., Havoc and Big L

Details

• 'False Prophets' as well as 'Everbody Dies' were supposed to feature on the album 4 Your Eyez Only but got dropped at the last minute as they didn't fit the overall concept.
  
  
• The song is about rappers who J Cole feels aren't doing things the right way, hence the title FALSE prophets. The use of the word prophets suggests that Cole perceives hip hop as a form of gospel, preaching truth to the listeners. Later in the track he chastises himself for having worshipped people based on the words that they write.
  
  
• The first verse "ego in charge of every move he's a star" refers to Kanye West. Kanye responded on an early version of Pusha T's track 'What Would Meek Do?' saying "you heard Cole on that song he was tryna hate". On the final version Kanye had changed his lyrics and didn't mention Cole.
  
  
• The second verse is about the rapper Wale. Cole believes that Wale's ambition is blinding him to the good things he has achieved through rapping. Wale responded with Groundhog Day, which came out one day after False Prophets and refers to Cole by name "I remember me and Cole would open for Hov, everyday a star is born I guess I died in the womb". The timing of the releases indicate that Wale was aware of the situation, and in order to capitalise on the resultant publicity, had his track ready to go.
  


• "That song wasn't about him. There's one verse that applies to him, for sure, but if you listen to it, it's about what this shit is exposing. We're worshiping celebrities. At one time I put this dude on a major pedestal… It's when it's at an unhealthy level that I fear. For the majority of us, our fascination for celebrities and what they do for us is unhealthy." (Cole confirming the track refers to Kanye West in an interview with Power 105 in 2018)


• "One day he was writing, and he resorted to his old way of writing, which was going on YouTube and writing to some beats, which is what most of us do. So he comes across the ‘Waves’ beat, and he knew it was mine and everything, but, like, he heard the beat and it just sparked something." (Joey Badass talking to HypeBeast about how J Cole happened to write to a beat he had used first)
  

Artwork