Rap beef has always been a contentious field. Nas vs. Jay-Z, Biggie vs. Tupac, Eminem vs. Ja Rule. Everyone wants to have the one-up on each other.
The recent rap beef between J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar and Drake is well underway after Kendrick and Metro Boomin’s shot at Drake and J. Cole on “Like That.”
“Okay, let’s get it up, it’s time for him to prove that he’s a problem/N****s clickin’ up, but cannot be legit, no 40 Water, tell ’em/Ah, yeah, huh, yeah, get up with me/F*ck sneak dissin’, first-person shooter, I hope they came with three switches/I crash out like, ‘F*ck rap,’ diss Melle Mel if I had to/Got 2TEEZ with me, I’m snatchin’ chains and burnin’ tattoos, it’s up,” Lamar raps on “Like That.”
On this killer guest verse, Kendrick directly calls out Cole and Drake on their number one song, “First Person Shooter,” where Drake and Cole both claim they are number one in “the big three” — Cole, Lamar and Drake.
In the past, the big three have varied by region, but in the internet age hip-hop has never been more connected.
No longer is the age of Biggie, Nas and Jay Z or Tupac, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, now we just have THE big three.
Kendrick’s direct shot at the two others is the first time hip-hop beef has gotten this large and this real since before the pandemic — with Drake, Meek Mill and Pusha T in 2018.
On April 5, J. Cole responded with “7 Minute Drill” off of his newest mixtape “Might Delete Later.”
“7 Minute Drill” — which is now deleted off spotify — is a pitiful attempt at a vicious diss track. On the diss, Cole postulates that Kendrick is somehow washed.
“He still doin’ shows, but fell off like The Simpsons/Your first sh*t was classic, your last shit was tragic/Your second sh*t put n****s to sleep, but they gassed it/Your third sh*t 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 me,” Cole raps on “7 Minute Drill.”
The second release Cole is referencing is the infamous “To Pimp A Butterfly” by Kendrick Lamar — widely regarded as the best hip-hop album of the 2010s.
The criticism is honestly moot since Cole’s best record hardly competes with Kendrick’s worst. His “prime” is in reference to “DAMN” — Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 Pulitzer Prize winning record.
In all honesty, J. Cole is a fish out of water here. His “conscious” hip-hop lane is so vapid and undercooked that when he even tries to compete with Kendrick he just flops.
During his set at the “Dreamville” festival that J. Cole and his label hosts, Cole apologized to Kendrick, saying that it was “the lamest sh*t I did in my f*ckin’ life.”
The fallout of this decision essentially made this a two-man beef. J. Cole has dropped out of the race.
Now, Drake has recently dropped a diss responding to Kendrick — “Push Ups (Drop & Give Me 50).”
Personally, I have not listened to this recent diss track, it probably is not worth the listen. This might be a reductive take, but I think ever since Kendrick dissed both J. Cole and Drake, it was over — they simply cannot compete against him.
Rick Ross also caught strays in Drake’s diss track — he responded with “Champagne Moments.” I have also not listened to it but I think Rick Ross has more fire in him than Drake and Cole.
Overall, this beef is really messy and complex with a lot of webs interlinking a lot of artists, but at the end of the day the first shot is almost always the hottest.
Kendrick shot first.
