Forbidden Fruit (J. Cole song)

J. Cole performed "Forbidden Fruit" on his "Dollar and a Dream" tour.

"Forbidden Fruit" was the last song recorded and produced by J. Cole for his second album, Born Sinner (2013). It was recorded as a replacement for another song which Cole was forced to remove from the album's track listing after failing to obtain sample clearance from the estate of Jimi Hendrix.[1] The song's production is based around a looped sample of American jazz musician Ronnie Foster's "Mystic Brew", which was also famously sampled by hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest on their 1993 song "Electric Relaxation".[2] Cole was inspired to incorporate the Foster sample into "Forbidden Fruit" after hearing "Electric Relaxation", saying:

I was like, "Oh, man. What if?" You know what I mean? Like, "What if I could just do it my way?" You know what I mean? It's such a classic and people are so afraid to touch classics. And I was just like, "What if I could flip it?" So I just went and found the original sample.[1]

American rapper Kendrick Lamar is featured on "Forbidden Fruit", which is the only track on the standard edition of Born Sinner with a fellow rapper credited as a featured artist.[3] Lamar does not rap a verse on the song; he instead contributes vocals to its refrain. "Forbidden Fruit" contains lyrics referencing Psalms 23 and Born Sinner's release date coinciding with that of Yeezus by American rapper Kanye West.[4]

At the June 24, 2013 stop in Houston, Texas on the Dollar and a Dream concert tour, J. Cole brought out Kendrick Lamar to perform the song, along with the J. Cole-produced "HiiiPower".[5][6] In June 2013, MTV reported that "Forbidden Fruit" would be released as the third single from Born Sinner.[2] On August 1, 2013, the song impacted American mainstream urban radio.[7]

"Forbidden Fruit" received mixed reviews from critics. Erin Lowers of Exclaim! cited the song as one of the album's standout tracks, saying that it "embodies a silent confidence, paying homage to a legendary group while speaking on releasing an album the same day as Kanye West, bringing Born Sinner full-circle."[8] Julia Leconte of Now praised Cole's sampling of "Mystic Brew" as done "exceptionally well" and named "Forbidden Fruit" the best track from Born Sinner.[9] David Jeffries of AllMusic expressed a similar sentiment, writing that "Forbidden Fruit" is driven by its "Blue Note-inspired" backbeats.[10]

August Brown of the Los Angeles Times gave the song a negative review, commenting that "Kendrick Lamar somehow packs more personality into a halfhearted hook on 'Forbidden Fruit' than Cole gets in the song".[11] Phillip Mlynar of Spin felt that "[the song's] quirky bass line and warm-keys motif are so recognizable that it's a brow-furrowing challenge to hear anything other than Q-Tip and Phife's original vocals in the space between the beat and the new raps."[12] Mlynar further stated that "Cole himself (along with Kendrick Lamar's guest spot) ends up evaporating entirely — he's upstaged by loftier artists who aren't even there."[12] Contrarily, Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest expressed his appreciation for Cole's production: "[He] didn't like try to do what was already done. [He] brought other parts to the sample that you caught that I was like, 'Oh, nice!'"[1]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Born Sinner.[13]

• J. Cole  – lead vocals, songwriting, production
• Ronnie Foster  – songwriting, sample credit
• Ron Gilmore  – keyboards
• Juro "Mez" Davis  – mixing
• Kendrick Lamar  – guest vocals