At Friday’s (Sept. 22) iHeartRadio Music Festival, Lil Durk gave fans a moment to remember when J. Cole made a surprise appearance during the performance of their hit “All My Life.” The audience erupted in cheers as the two artists took the stage together for the first time. “The song’s been huge for us. Let’s do it justice,” the Chicago rapper told the crowd while cueing the track’s chorus.
Following it’s release this past May, Durk and Cole’s joint effort became a commercial success. “All My Life” debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and served as a standout cut on the former’s latest album, Almost Healed, which also made a strong showing. That project landed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Durk previously discussed the collaboration in an interview with Nadeska Alexis on Apple Music. He revealed, “It’s so crazy because we’d been talking for, like, two years, and he’d always be like, ‘Send me a record.’ And I’m like, ‘I gotta find the right record.’ I’m glad I waited two years. In my eyes, he a legend. If you have a chance to do a song with a legend, it be like, will you send them something just to send it, just to say you got one, or you gone make it stick? So that’s why I never just sent him a record. Cause I’m like, ‘I want something that’s gon’ stick.’”
He added, “As soon as I did the record, he was the first person to pop in my head. Like, I got it. I believe in timing. Timing is everything.”
Amid the hype around their collaboration, rumors circulated about the cost of the North Carolina native’s guest verse. A post suggested that Durk paid nearly $1 million for it. However, Cole’s manager, Ibrahim Hamad, quickly dispelled the notion by tweeting a cap emoji in response.