On “Deja Vu,” Cole raps from the perspective of his deceased friend James McMillan Jr., who imagines a conversation with a woman about the kind of men she gravitates towards. He believes that he can unseat these guys if she would only give him—a small town guy from the streets—a chance.

After this song was released, controversy sprung up surrounding its production because the beat sounded eerily similar to Bryson Tiller’s 2015 hit “Exchange.” In an interview with Billboard, Dreamville president Ibrahim Hamad confirmed that this song was actually recorded for Cole’s previous album 2014 Forest Hills Drive, meaning it was produced before the “Exchange” beat.

This song was also J Cole’s highest charting song until 2019’s “MIDDLE CHILD.”