J. Cole offered an apology to Kendrick Lamar during his performance at Dreamville Fest this weekend. The move comes after Cole’s surprise album, “Might Delete Later,” sparked controversy with the outro track “7 Minute Drill” where he dissed Lamar.
In the original song, Cole took aim at Lamar, rapping lines like “They say that somebody dissing / You want some attention, it come with extensions… He still doing shows but fell off like The Simpsons.” He even questioned the quality of Lamar’s discography.
“Your first [album] was classic, your last [one] was tragic / Your second [album] put [listeners] to sleep but they gassed it.”
However, during his headlining set at Dreamville Fest on Sunday (April 7), the “Love Yourz”rapper expressed regret over the track.
“I’m so proud of [‘Might Delete Later’], except for one part,” said Cole. “It’s one part of that shit that makes me feel like, man that’s the lamest shit I did in my fuckin’ life, right? And I know this is not what a lot of people want to hear.”
He admitted that he felt pressured to publicly respond to Lamar after witnessing the discourse it incited. “I was conflicted because, one I know my heart and I know how I feel about my peers, these two n—s that I just been blessed to even stand beside in this game, let alone chase they greatness. So I felt conflicted ’cause I’m like, bruh I don’t even feel no way. But the world wanna see blood. I don’t know if y’all can feel that, but the world wanna see blood.”
He explained that releasing the diss “spiritually [felt] bad on me,” and “that shit don’t sit right with my spirit.” “That shit disrupts my fuckin’ peace. So what I want to say right here tonight is in the midst of me doing that and in that shit, trying to find a little angle and downplay this n—a’s fucking catalog and his greatness, I want to say right now tonight, how many people think Kendrick Lamar is one of the greatest motherfucker’s to ever touch a fuckin’ microphone? Dreamville, y’all love Kendrick Lamar, correct? As do I.
“I just want to come up here and publicly be like, bruh, that was the lamest, goofiest shit. I say all that to say it made me feel like 10 years ago when I was moving incorrectly. And I pray that god will line me back up on my purpose and on my path, I pray that my n—a really didn’t feel no way and if he did, my n—a, I got my chin out. Take your best shot, I’ma take that shit on the chin boy, do what you do. All good. It’s love. And I pray that y’all are like, forgive a n—a for the misstep and I can get back to my true path. Because I ain’t gonna lie to y’all. The past two days felt terrible. It let me know how good I’ve been sleeping for the past 10 years.”
This turn of events adds another chapter to the recent back-and-forth between the two rappers. It all began with whispers of competition, fueled by Cole calling himself, Drake, and Lamar the “big 3” of hip hop, followed by Lamar’s “Like That” verse where he seemingly dismissed the “big 3” notion.
Watch J. Cole apologize to Kendrick Lamar below.
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