In 2024, J. Cole shocked hip-hop fans when he broke what felt like a cardinal rule in hip-hop by apologizing to Kendrick Lamar at the peak of the Lamar vs. Drake beef. Now, two years later, the rapper is confronting the apology that had fans divided in a new surprise freestyle.
Hours before his 41st birthday, Cole released a surprise mixtape, “Birthday Blizzard’26,” featuring four freestyles. In “Bronx Zoo Freestyle,” the rapper addresses the polarizing apology he issued to the “Not Like Us” rapper during the 2024 Dreamville Festival.
“The top ain’t really what I thought it would be/So I jumped off and landed back at the bottom and restarted at a level where I wasn’t regarded as much/Just to climb past them again and tell them all to keep up,” Cole rapped. “I used to be top, see, the apology dropped me way out of the top 3/No problem, I’m probably my best when they doubt me.”
Cole’s bars are a clear response to the drama sparked by his 2024 “7 Minute Drill” track, which alluded to Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly” being boring in response to Lamar’s diss in the song “Like That,” featuring Future and Metro Boomin. While fans had mixed reactions to Cole’s “7 Minute Drill,” they were especially shocked when the Dreamville creator issued an apology, effectively bowing out of what would become a summer of back-and-forth records from Lamar and Drake.
Cole expressed his regret for dissing Lamar while onstage at the Dreamville Festival, telling fans: “It’s one part of that s—t that makes me feel like, man, that’s the lamest s—t I did in my f—kin’ life. So I felt conflicted ’cause I’m like, bruh I don’t even feel no way. And I know this is not what a lot of people want to hear.”
“I moved in a way that I spiritually feel bad on. I tried to like, jab my n—a back, and I tried to keep it friendly. But at the end of the day, when I listen to it and when it comes out and I see the talk, that s—t don’t sit right with my spirit. That s—t disrupts my f—g peace,” he added.
Cole’s surprise drop appears to be a prelude to his highly anticipated and rumored final album, “The Fall-Off” which is set to release on February 6.
