Sunday Night Sample - J. Cole - She Knows

J. Cole - "She Knows"

One of the standout tracks from 'Born Sinner', J. Cole sampled the piano and vocal hook from indie rock group The Cults for his single 'She Knows'.

This song a melody from Amber Coffman of the Dirty Projectors. Cole's crony, and the song's producer, Ibrahim "IB" Hamad told Vibe magazine: "Working with Amber Coffman was incredible, Cole always been a fan of hers and she was one of the nicest people I've met in this game."

The track details Cole's sexual exploits outside his relationship and how he suspects his girlfriend knows he’s been unfaithful (although this isn't shown in the music video). This music video follows a short story of a young boy who disobeys his parents by ditching school and going on a journey with his friend. The theme of knowing, unfaithfulness, and lack of trust is represented in the video.

Cole knows what he’s doing, she knows that he is cheating on her, and he knows that she knows this fact, deep down she knows that this is wrong, but she loves him, and he knows what he did is wrong, but he can’t stop his now addictive lifestyle.

Just like the teenage boy in the video, he knows he shouldn't be missing school but he still does it knowing the consequences. The mother also portrays J.coles feeling by cheating on her partner, she knows that her partner knows something is going on but she still won't stop.

He knows that he can’t do what he should in this relationship, so he continues to do what he wants, and deep down he probably hopes she will leave him.

Although Cole raps about the lack of trust in his relationship and shows it in the music video, we see the trust between people outside the family i.e. we see a close-up shot of a fist bump between the protagonist and his friend, this shows that you can't always trust the people in your family.

SAMPLE - The Cults - "Bad Things"

The American pop duo will be familiar to any indie fans, as they were heralded as ones to watch in 2011, with positive reviews from the likes of NME and Pitchfork.

Hamad recalled to Vibe: "Cole had those drums for over a year before he found the right sample to put on top of it. One night in LA he came across that sample when we were working at Record Plant."

What's kind of crazy about the use of this sample is how it's sort of an auditory illusion.

In the song, singer Amber Coffman sings, “And you’ll find yourself paying the Diamond above”. But in the sample of The Cults J. Cole’s uses, it somehow says. “And you’ll find yourself praying to heaven above”. 

The song also samples lyrics from Malcolm McLaren's "Buffalo Gals".

SAMPLE - Malcolm McLaren - "Buffalo Gals"

Advertisement

The song's video was directed by Sam Pilling (Usher's "Climax" and Two Door Cinema Club's "Handshake"). The clip stars Harold Perrineau (The Best Man Holiday) and Rochelle Aytes (CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story) as two teenagers playing truant from school.Pilling told Promo News that working on the clip was a highlight for him. "J.Cole really believed in my vision and fought against putting performance in the video," the director said. "He also pushed for professional actors."

The song had a resurgence of sorts a few years ago thanks to TikTok. “She Knows,”—per stats shared by TikTok—inspired more than 230,000 creations on the platform. A dramatic uptick in activity surrounding the song, per TikTok, has been seen in recent weeks.

The “She Knows” trend, complete with around 1.6 billion total video views from July/August bimonthly, is largely built on the premise of pointing out situations wherein someone of personal importance is wholly aware of something the creator is hiding. Thus, “she knows.” There have been variations on the formula, as well.

Cole performing the track on Letterman.