J. Cole has weighed in on the high-profile Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud on his shock new single, ‘Port Antonio’.
Again in April, Lamar and Drake went face to face in a scathing rap battle after the previous referred to as out the Canadian rapper and Cole on Future and Metro Boomin’ ‘Like That’. The ‘No Position Modelz’ star did initially reply with ‘7 Minute Drill’ on the mixtape ‘May Delete Later’, however retracted the diss observe and apologised swiftly after.
On Wednesday (October 9), the LaFayette native shocked followers by dropping ‘Port Antonio’, which samples Lonnie Liston Smith’s ‘A Backyard of Peace’ and Cleo Sol‘s ‘Know That You Are Liked’. Cole defended his resolution to step again from the battle on the five-minute observe.
He rapped: “I pulled the plug as a result of I seen the place that was ’bout to go / They needed blood, they needed clicks to make they pockets develop / They see this fireplace in my pen and assume I’m dodgin’ smoke / I wouldn’t have misplaced a battle, dawg, I woulda misplaced a bro / I woulda gained a foe.”
He then commented on the savage allegations Drake and Lamar exchanged on their respective diss songs: “Jermaine is not any king if meaning I gotta dig up filth and pay the entire crew / Of algorithm bot n****s simply to sway the entire thing / On social media, competing to your beneficial memes to be thought of greatest.”
“I perceive the thirst of being first that made ’em each swing / Defending legacies, so strains bought crossed, maybe regrettably / My associates went to battle, I walked away with all they blood on me,” Cole continued, suggesting each rappers went too far within the feud.
‘Port Antonio’ arrived on the one-year anniversary of ‘First Individual Shooter’ – the Drake and Cole collaboration Lamar replied to on ‘Like That’. Cole instantly addressed the tune: “They are saying I’m pickin’ sides, aye, don’t you lie on me, my n***a / To begin one other battle / Aye, Drake, you’ll at all times be my n***a / I ain’t ashamed to say you probably did rather a lot for me, my n***a / Fuck all of the narratives / Tapping again into your magic pen is what’s crucial.”
“Reminding these people why we do it / It’s not for beefing, it’s for talking our ideas,” Cole stated, explaining why hip-hop is necessary and never only a machine to fire up hatred. He added: “Pushing ourselves, reaching the charts / Reaching your minds, deep in your coronary heart / Screaming to seek out feelings to the touch / Somethin’ inside to open you up / Make it easier to deal with the tough occasions and shit / I’m sending love, ’trigger we ain’t promised shit.”
The Drake-Lamar battle got here to a halt this Could after the Toronto star dropped ‘The Coronary heart Half 6’, on which he stated his crew fed Lamar false info and denied allegations of paedophilia lobbied in opposition to him on ‘Meet The Grahams’ and ‘Not Like Us’.
‘Not Like Us’ has since grow to be one among Lamar’s most profitable songs, touchdown as his fourth Billboard Quantity One and breaking the Spotify report for probably the most streams in someday for a hip-hop tune. At his sold-out Juneteenth ‘Pop Out’ live performance, Lamar performed the tune six occasions – Dr. Dre launched the tune the primary time, whispering the opening lyrics, “I see lifeless individuals.”
Lamar will headline subsequent 12 months’s Tremendous Bowl Halftime efficiency. There was a hearsay that Drake served Lamar a “cease-and-desist” letter so he couldn’t carry out ‘Not Like Us’ on the career-defying gig however the ‘Headlines’ rapper denied the declare.
Just lately, a brand new documentary referred to as Public Enemies: Kendrick vs Drake was green-lit by the UK broadcaster, Channel 4, and shall be a “cultural exploration of two of probably the most influential voices in trendy music.” A launch date has not been introduced, nor has a broadcast plan for the US.
