For the bigger artists, it’s now common to release an album and then service a single from the bunch to the radio, often depending on fans’ reaction. J. Cole is the latest to do that for his latest project, 4 Your Eyez Only.
Cole has decided to make ‘Deja Vu’ the first single from the album, which officially goes for adds January 10th on radio stations across the country. It’s an interesting decision because although the song reached the top 10 of Billboard Hot 100 upon the album’s release last month, it has been controversial for sounding very similar to Bryson Tiller’s hit ‘Exchange’.
Producers Vinylz and Boi-1da had also accused Foreign Teck (the producer of ‘Exchange’) of stealing the beat but Foreign Teck denied the accusation and claimed that it was in fact him who created it on his own. Both songs sample K.P. and Envyi’s 1998 track ‘Swing My Way’ but it’s the similarity in the way of sampling that raises the question.
Me and @Boi1da made that exchange beat first. It was stolen from us by a thief named @ForeignTeck . Cole song was recorded before exchange
— Vinylz (@Vinylz) December 9, 2016
Cole’s manager Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad later told Billboard that the the decision to include the song on 4 Your Eyez Only wasn’t a difficult one and the controversy behind the beat was none of their concern.
What do you think about decision of ‘Deja Vu’ as the official single? Let us know in the comments section.