“Sacrifices” by Dreamville (ft. EARTHGANG, J. Cole, Smino & Saba)

The title of this song, as well as its chorus, is based on the idea of the track being about the “sacrifices” the artists had to make in order to achieve the level of success they are currently experiencing. However, for the most part the rappers do not attempt to actually stick to this topic, although they do occasionally reference it. Rather what they do focus on is primarily themselves, as in how wild they are or in the case of Saba his social background or for J. Cole his family, though these can also be loosely applied to the overall theme.

The track concludes with a couple of verses by Cole, the head rapper at Dreamville who, as many of us already know, is one of the most-articulate in the game. And this quality shows when he is paired with others who have yet to reach the same level of being able to express themselves. But as alluded to earlier, even Cole does not stick faithfully to the topic. Rather his time on the song reads more like a love letter to his wife.

So in the end, when trying to ascertain the meaning of “Sacrifices”, we can say that while it does have an overarching theme/framework, like most rap cyphers, it allows the artists to express in a freeform kind of way.

Cole used “Sacrifices” to reveal pending birth of child

“Sacrifices” made headlines in particular due to J. Cole concluding the track (and indeed the entire album) by emotionally revealing to the world that he and his wife (Melissa Heholt) were expecting a second child.

Release Date of “Sacrifices”

Universal Records in collaboration with Interscope Records alongside Dreamville Records released “Sacrifices” as the closing song on the album Revenge of the Dreamers III on 5 July 2019. It ended up being one of the project’s most outstanding tracks. Other prominent tracks on this album are as follows:

• “Down Bad”
• “MIDDLE CHILD”
• “Costa Rica“
• “Down Bad“

Writing and Production

“Sacrifices” was produced by Groove alongside Henny. Both producers also contributed to the writing of the song alongside the four headline artists.