It feels good…but it almost didn’t workout…

J. Cole’s highly anticipated debut album just hit #1 on Billboard and the first single “Workout” features a very heavy dose of Bosko on the talkbox!

Rewind four months ago: In the middle of a particularly challenging day, I got an email requesting permission to use a song I co-wrote with Kanye West called “New Workout Plan”.

Of course I wanted to hear the song before I said yes, so a few minutes later I’m on my iPhone listening to my talkbox solo looped over and over behind a rapper I recognize as J. Cole spittin’ a hot verse. I’m thinkin’…hell yeah. Great song. I like J.cole. Let’s do it!

I’m all over the song, in fact the beat is me, so it should be good look right? Not so much… I call to get the details, only to find out that the record company is only offering me $250 dollars and NO CREDIT. Wow….is this Big Red Records?

I guess they had me mixed up with Lil Richard or something. No disrespect, but I cut my hair and this ain’t the 1950′s.

See…no resemblance.

An hour long phone call with the attorneys only ended in name calling and insults.

My first music attorney and mentor Virgil Roberts told me years ago, negotiation can be like a game of chicken. Two cars speed toward eachother head on. Whoever swerves loses the game and is forever labeled as the “chicken”. Virgil’s advice: The driver that throws his steering wheel out of the window is not gonna lose. So, I threw mine out. No credit, no song.

Of course this story has a happy ending as you now know. No car crash, just a call from J.Cole’s manager agreeing to fair terms. The rest as they say is history: #1 Album, hit single with J. Cole, plaque on the way!

Here is the remix featuring an additional exclusive Bosko Talkbox verse! [warning: explicit]

Stay tuned for more Bosko + J. Cole Collaborations coming soon. Cole Word!