J.I.D’s latest single, “Off Deez,” is the Atlanta rapper’s latest collaboration with his mentor and label boss J. Cole. However, the track wasn’t originally destined for the North Carolina rapper. Instead, J.I.D first had his sights set on Cole’s friend and collaborator Kendrick Lamar, as he revealed in a new interview with Bossip.

“I sent it to Kendrick [Lamar] first. Facts,” he said. “That’s 100% what happened. I sent it Kendrick first. Long shot, Kendrick was going on the Championship Tour so it was just a long shot. I knew it wasn’t gonna happen and it’s understandable because he’s a superstar and has obligations. I sent it through the proper channels it just didn’t work out, but he fucked with it.”

After Kendrick passed on it, J.I.D showed it to his fellow 2018 XXL Freshman Ski Mask the Slump God. “I made it the around the time of the XXL freestyle back in maybe April. I played it for Ski Mask The Slump God but he got busy and I know the situation with X affected him a lot,” he said, referencing the June 2018 murder of XXXTentacion.

Finally, it ended up in Cole’s lap. “Then I sent it to Cole like, ‘You fuck with this record? It’s hard, right? I’m bout to kill it and do the second verse,” J.I.D recalled. “He’s like, 'Hey, save me a lil piece on there,’ and I’m like, ‘What? You wanna get on this one?’ And we got shit, but he was just moved when he heard it. I’m trying some different shit and trying new patterns and he’s just competitive and he’s fuckin’ elite at what he does so when he got on there it just made sense.”

Cole and J.I.D previously collaborated on Spillage Village’s 2016 track “Can’t Call It,” and Cole served as the producer on multiple tracks from J.I.D’s The Never Story in 2017.

“Off Deez” is set to appear on J.I.D’s new album, Dicaprio 2, which will be released on November 26, 2018.

Listen to the song above and read all the lyrics to J.I.D’s “Off Deez” featuring J. Cole on Genius now.