J. Cole has hit back at Kendrick Lamar on his surprise new project Might Delete Later.
On the mixtape’s closing track, “7 Minute Drill,” Cole appears to reference K. Dot’s recent disses at him and Drake, and returns fire with some scathing bars of his own.
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Taking aim at the perceived quality of his friend-turned-foe’s catalog, he raps: “Your first shit was classic, your last shit was tragic/ Your second shit put n-ggas 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.”
He continues: “Now I’m front of the line with a comfortable lead/ How ironic, soon as I got it, now he want somethin’ with me/ Well, he caught me at the perfect time, jump up and see.”
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The Dreamville boss also channels JAY-Z‘s “Takeover” diss at Nas: “He averagin’ one hard verse like every 30 months or somethin’/ If he wasn’t dissin’, then we wouldn’t be discussin’ him.”
He then compares his sparring match with Kendrick, who he once planned to record an album with, to the scene in New Jack City where Wesley Snipes’ character Nino Brown tearfully kills his brother.
“Lord, don’t make me have to smoke this n-gga ’cause I fuck with him/ But push come to shove, on this mic, I will humble him/ I’m Nino with this thing, this that ‘New Jack City’ meme/ Yeah, I’m aimin’ at Gee Money, cryin’ tears before I bust at him.”
This sentiment is repeated later in Cole’s verse when he raps: “My text flooded with the hunger for a toxic reply/ I’m hesitant, I love my brother, but I’m not gonna lie/ I’m powered up for real, that shit would feel like swattin’ a fly.”
He then repurposes another line from Hov’s “Takeover”: “Four albums in 12 years, n-gga, I can divide/ Shit, if this is what you want, I’m indulgin’ in violence.”
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Cole ends the fiery song with a warning to the rest of the rap game while teasing his upcoming album The Fall Off.
“This is merely a warning shot to back n-ggas down/ Back in the town where they whippin’ work and traffickin’ pounds/ My jack jumpin’ ’bout a rapper makin’ blasphemous sounds/ Switchin’ sides like the tassel on the cap and the gown/ I’m fully loaded, n-gga, I can drop two classics right now,” he spits, before adding: “Let me chill out, man… The Fall Off on the way, n-gga.”
“7 Minute Drill” arrives just two weeks after Kendrick Lamar took aim at J. Cole and Drake in his guest verse on Future and Metro Boomin‘s “Like That,” from their collaborative album We Don’t Trust You.
Referencing the pair’s chart-topping single “First Person Shooter,” he rapped: “Fuck sneak dissin’, first-person shooter, I hope they came with three switches/ I crash out like, ‘Fuck rap,’ diss Melle Mel if I had to.”
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He added: “Think I won’t drop the location? I still got PTSD/ Motherfuck the big three, n-gga, it’s just big me.”
While Drake has yet to respond on wax, he seemingly addressed Kendrick’s lyrical darts during a show in Florida days later.
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“A lot of people ask me how I’m feeling. I’ma let you know I’m feeling,” he told the crowd. “I got my fucking head up high, my back straight, I’m 10 fucking toes down in Florida and anywhere else I go.
“And I know that no matter what, there’s not a n-gga on this Earth that could ever fuck with me in my life!”
