J. Cole responds to Kendrick Lamar with â7 Minute Drillâ â letâs break it down
OPINION: Weâve been waiting for one of hip-hopâs best rappers to respond to a diss from one of hip-hopâs best artists, and finally, we got action!
![Rapper J. Cole](https://thegrio.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-1746212532-e1712331041580.jpg?w=1074&h=605&crop=1)
Editorâs note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the authorâs own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
When I woke up two weeks ago to Kendrick Lamar dissing Drake and J. Cole on the song âLike Thatâ from Metro Boomin and Futureâs album, âWE DONâT TRUST YOU,â the 20-something-year-old hip-hop fan inside my soul got excited. In a verse that made almost everybody listen to the song, Kendrick took shots at two of hip-hopâs titans, lampooning the idea of a Rap Big 3 as suggested by J. Cole on âFirst Person Shooterâ â from Drakeâs lackluster album âFor All The Dogs.â I was ready for Drake â who has been famously embroiled in high-and-low-stakes beefs with Pusha T, Meek Mill, and Common (among others) and has had smoke for a litany of artists â to get competitive and drop some bars but we got some inspirational quotes from the stage and some subs (?) on Instagram. Le sigh.
J. Cole, on the other hand, I had absolutely no doubt would respond in some way. When? I had no clue, but thereâs no way that one of the few rappers viewed for his tremendous lyricism and feature appearances that arguably puts him as one of, if not the, greatest âfeature rapperâ of all time. Again, arguable, but Iâm willing to say it. If J. Cole is on somebody elseâs song, Iâm RUNNING to listen to it. And it doesnât matter what he gets on, either. He is batting 1.000 on features. His features on songs from Benny the Butcher to 21 Savage to Summer Walker to Lilâ Yachty to Lil Durk to whoever and wherever else he goes is a trail of flames. His albums, though, leave A LOT to be desired. So much so that I was HOPING heâd hop on somebody elseâs record and drop a verse going back at Kung Fu Kenny that put the hip-hop world on notice that if you want smoke, heâs got fire.
So color me curious but cautious when I woke up to a text message from a homie that said, âSurprise Cole album! So much for bedâ. Even if Iâm always worried about his albums being excessively mid, his albums are events, so I fired up âMight Delete Laterâ because Cole has earned my listens. I knew thereâd be a diss record and scanned the tracklisting for which one it might be, zeroing in on the final record â7 Minute Drillâ since Cole has a tendency towards putting the important record last â and I was right. But before I got to that song, I decided to listen to the rest of the album, and let me just say that I truly appreciate J. Cole following in the tradition of Drakeâs album âHonestly, Nevermind,â with a title â âMight Delete Laterâ â that also serves as a sufficient album review.
Thatâs fine though. The most important record on this album is â7 Minute Drillâ where J. Cole responds to Kendrick. Over 3-and-a-half minutes and a beat switch, we get a Jay-Z âThe Takeoverâ-esque assessment of Kendrickâs body of work and a warning that Cole might have to go Nino Brown on Kendrick, which is fascinating since on âFirst Person Shooterâ he put himself, Kendrick and Drake on the same status. Now, though, he might have to take his brother out, like Nino had to do Gee Money in âNew Jack City.â Well played, Cole. Well played. I rather appreciated that reference as a means of explaining the situation.
âI’m Nino with this thing, this that New Jack City meme
Yeah, I’m aimin’ at Gee Money, cryin’ tears before I bust at himâ
In reference to Kendrickâs catalog, hereâs what Cole had to say:
âYour first shit was classic, your last shit was tragic
Your second shit put niggas to sleep, but they gassed it
Your third shit was massive and that was your prime
I was trailin’ right behind and I just now hit mine
Now I’m front of the line with a comfortable lead
How ironic, soon as I got it, now he want somethin’ with meâ
This is what folks are likely going to be talking about ⊠because itâs true. Even the most stan-tastic Kendrick fan should concur with Coleâs read on Kendrickâs catalog. âGood Kid, M.A.A.D. City,â was a classic, and âDAMNâ was a monster. But âTo Pimp a Butterfly,â while ambitious and worthy of note because itâs pretty singular in its existence as a hip-hop record, is better to talk about than listen to. The same goes for âMr. Morale and The Big Steppers,â also another ambitious and amazing concept album, but I doubt many people listen to it regularly, if at all.
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The only quibble I have with his bars is that Coleâs own catalog isnât exactly that stellar. Iâm not even sure he actually has what you could deem a classic under his belt. The closest non-mixtape record would be â2014 Forest Hills Drive,â I think, and that is a reach. âThe Off-Season,â his last album, had some great records on it, but classic? Eh. Nothing else truly rises to the level of classic to non-J. Cole stans. I think most of us who donât believe J. Cole is Rap Jesus, but really like him, are waiting for that album that makes us all understand the hype. But thatâs neither here nor there; heâs still one of the GOATS. Point is, J. Cole going at Kendrickâs catalog is kind of odd since, well, Coleâs best work isnât even on his own albums; as I said before, J. Coleâs features are worth the price of admission, the albums ⊠not so much.
But again, Iâm glad this record exists. We have two rappers of note and skill releasing records in the iron-sharpens-iron kind of way. Cole and Kendrick obviously have respect for one another â how could they not, theyâve worked together since the early days â so this is all hip-hop. J. Cole is undoubtedly one of the best spitters in the game. Itâs effortless for him, and I canât do anything but appreciate and respect that. Hip-hop is better because of J. Cole features. And Kendrick is Kendrick; at this point, who knows what heâll do next, but when he drops an album weâll all be talking about it again because thatâs what happens with releases.
I hope we get a few more records back and forth during this before one or the other comes out at the other oneâs show in either Los Angeles or Charlotte. In the meantime, Iâll be waiting for J. Coleâs purported final album, âThe Fall Off,â like the rest of the hip-hop world.
Oh, and I guess weâll keep waiting for Drake to respond, I guess.
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Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest), but he didnât answer the phone because the caller ID said: âUnknownâ (Blackest).
Make sure you check out the Dear Culture podcast every Thursday on theGrioâs Black Podcast Network, where Iâll be hosting some of the Blackest conversations known to humankind. You might not leave the convo with an afro, but youâll definitely be looking for your Afro Sheen! Listen to Dear Culture on TheGrioâs app; download it here.
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