Sitting down with Page31, Elite speaks on how he and J. Cole originally linked up, recording The Warm Up at his crib, his contribution to Born Sinner (co-produced “Crooked Smile” and “Born Sinner” with additional production on “Runaway” and “Let Nas Down”) and more. Check his insight behind “Let Nas Down” below and read the rest of the interview here.
What was you reaction to hearing Nas was let down by “Work Out”?
First of all I was blessed—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. It’s just so well written. The composition of the story is well written, its one of my favorite hip-hop songs ever.Any word on if Nas got a chance to hear that one yet?
Yeah, I’ll let Cole tell that story and I’m sure he can tell it a lot better because he was there. There is a really cool story behind that one and I’m sure he’ll tell it at some point.
