Joey Bada$$ has inserted himself into the J. Cole versus Kendrick Lamar sparring match with a reminder about his own pedigree when it comes to rap battles.
The Brooklyn MC took to X (formerly Twitter) on Friday (April 5) to share his 2013 track “Killuminati Pt. 2,” which he recorded in response to Kendrick’s incendiary verse on Big Sean‘s “Control.”
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Joey posted the song alongside a simple caption: “Never forget.”
The song was produced by Knxwledge and found the Pro Era member going straight for K. Dot’s neck.
“No escaping, you in a swimming pool of champagne/ You set yourself up for that one, mane/ The King of New York?/ Ha! We ain’t just gon’ let that one hang,” he rapped, referencing Kendrick’s audacious claim about occupying the Big Apple’s throne.
Joey’s tweet came after J. Cole fired 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 in his punishing guest verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That.”
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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.”
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 own brother.
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“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.”
