20 of the Best J. Cole Guest Features

Over the years, J. Cole has truly become a man of few words – fully adopting the “only speak through my music” mentality. The North Carolina rapper has practically taken himself completely off of social media and when he does fire off a tweet, it’s either to promote one of his Dreamville artists or to let fans know he’s got an album dropping.

Luckily, the latter happened last week as Cole announced the release of his fourth studio album, 4 Your Eyez Only. Just like 2014 Forest Hills Drive album, Cole’s tracklist for the new LP contains not a single featured guest, proving his continued desire to tell his story strictly by himself. However, Cole is no stranger to dishing out a few verses here and there to help other artists tell their own stories.

A featured verse from J. Cole both helps and hinders the main artist for one main reason: he's just too good at rapping. Having him featured on his peers' tracks will instantly make it a fan favorite because unless it's an artist under the Dreamville imprint, a guest spot from Cole is hard to get. By that same token, listeners have a major tendency to fast forward to Cole’s verse and switch songs right after it’s done simply because it’s just that good. He also operates without any musical restrictions so everything from a slow R&B jam to a club heater can get the Cole World treatment. But of course there is the best of the best and that’s what we’ve compiled here. Below are the 20 best J. Cole guest features.