The worthy hype that surrounded the release of DAYTONA, arguably the best rap album of 2018, can practically be felt in every note of what is perhaps the album centerpiece "What Would Meek Do?" In addition to more mastery from Pusha-T, the track is notable for its inclusion of a verse from Kanye West in rare form, at once attempting to rationalize his red hat era and re-prove his place in the hearts of fans.
A previous take of that verse, however, showcases some variations on lines that made it to the final cut, as well as an apparent mention of J. Cole that's completely absent from the official DAYTONA version.
A clip of that verse, shared late Wednesday on the unofficial Kanye's Archive YouTube page, sees Pusha-T hitting 'Ye with the same "How do you respond?" challenge that serves as the set-up for the album version. Instead of launching in off some poopity scoopity, this rough alternate version has West crowning himself the "Don of Vuitton." A certain pondering on complexity is still here, though it's lightly reworded and pushed back further into the verse:
I am the Don of Vuitton
I am the Sean of Sean John
That's the boss, n***a
[indecipherable placeholder words]
I'm too complex for ComplexCon
You heard Cole on that song He was tryna hate
The snippet was previously available before being removed.
And for proper DAYTONA-ing, one must also revisit the original cut (as well as the entire seven-tracker) in full starting right now.
While there's no reason to believe that West and Cole currently have any issues at all, the would-be lyrical mention here is likely a nod of some kind to "False Prophets." The 2016 Cole single famously included an extended passage about West, though he's never directly named in the lyrics. In one line, Cole speaks of someone "cryin' out for help while the world's eggin' him on."
