Bun B Explains Why J. Cole's 'Bun B For President' Didn't Make Album
Late last week, a J. Cole track called “Bun B For President” blitzed the blogosphere. In case you didn’t figure out from the title, the song was recorded for Bun B’s recent third solo set, Trill OG, which hit shelves on Tuesday (Aug. 3). But why didn’t the song make the album?
“I never could figure out how to approach the record. It almost sounded crazy for me to say ‘Bun B For President,’” Bun B told VIBE recently of the leak. “It was an incredible song. I really loved the track, which J. Cole produced as well. I originally talked to him about a beat and he was like, ‘Oh I got music all day. Would you mind if I sent you something with a verse on it.’ I’m like, ‘I wasn’t even gon’ go there but by all means…’ And when he sent it, all we did all day was sit around and listen to that song, like, ‘Do you hear this? What do you do to this? I don’t even know what to do to this.’ So it was just something that we had to put to the side.”
The sparse and mellow groove finds J. Cole lyrically casting his ballot for the UGK vet, spitting, “Below that Mason Dixon my residence, Dirty South confederate/Aye we should hold elections, I say Bun B for president, he represent them real niggas...”
“That’s one of the few songs that I wasn’t able to just attack. I hated that I couldn’t figure out how to do it,” says Bun, adding that he didn't leak the record himself. “That shows how ahead of the game [Cole] is. Most of the songs I hear, people will tell you I jumped in on it. That one I took my time with and I was like, ‘You know what, we’re gonna wait on this record. We’re gonna sit on it until I know exactly how to present it.”
Bun B has publicly expressed that he’s been impressed thus far with Cole’s performances and writing skills, but the Jay-Z protégé’s production has also caught his ears. “A lot of cats, they still weren’t hip to the game with J. Cole. So people would come to the studio and I would be playing different songs off the album,” recalls Bun. “I’d be like, ‘You know what, you need to check this song out. This something J. Cole sent.’ And they’re like, ‘That’s the dude that Hov got right?’ It’s like, ‘Oh shit who did the beat?’ I’m like, ‘He did the beat.’”
As for whether we’ll hear the song’s namesake actually spitting on “Bun B For President,” Bun indeed plans on adding a verse after seeing the positive feedback on the Web. “Now that it’s out there, I kinda feel like I have to do something,” says the Houston rapper. “So don’t be surprised if you here something on it in the next couple days. I got a better understanding now how to approach it than I did when I got it, now when I see how the public reacted to it. ’Cause I didn’t want to come off too cocky, like, ‘I’m the shit.’" —Clover Hope
