Symba has brought in his birthday with a new track calling J. Cole out in the wake of his apology to Kendrick Lamar while also pointing out the Rap game’s many current shortcomings.
On Thursday (April 11), the Bay Area native shared the scathing freestyle, which he delivered over Big Sean‘s “Control” beat and seemingly captured on his phone’s camera while still in the booth.
AD LOADING...
“It’s my birthday and Yaw know what time it is .. THIS IS HIP HOP!!!,” he wrote in the caption, along with a lion emoji.
The first few bars hear Symba take aim at the general state of Hip-Hop, addressing everything from sneak dissing on podcasts interviews to men faking affluence in order to meet women’s unrealistic expectations. But soon enough, the 25-year-old addresses J. Cole by name, revealing his thoughts on the apology the Dreamville boss issued on Sunday (April 7), just days after releasing his “7 Minute Drill” diss directed at K. Dot.
AD LOADING...
“I looked the devil dead in his eyes like I ain’t scared to die,” Symba spits. “For damn sure ain’t scared to go to war with a friend of mine/Pushing through sunset lighting up with the top down/Barbershop convos ’bout who sit at the top now/The Big 3 fucked up, Cole gave up his spot now/Can’t say you top five if you scared to be hostile
“I remember feeling your pain when you let Nas down/But you done let Bas down and Cozz down/You done let the squad down/Can’t say you the goat if you ain’t poppin ’em/We ain’t tryna hear all them apologies/Dot told you n-ggas that he usually homeboys with who he rhymin’ with/But this is Hip-Hop and you n-ggas should know what time it is.”
J. Cole publicly apologized to Kendrick Lamar for dissing him on “7 Minute Drill” while performing at Dreamville Festival.
Walking back his lyrics about his longtime friend on the surprise song that was released on last week, Cole expressed regret about releasing the track.
AD LOADING...
“I’m so proud of [Might Delete Later], except for one part. 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 said to the crowd during his headlining set on Sunday night.
“I was conflicted because: one, I know my heart and I know how I feel about my peers. These two n-ggas 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.”
AD LOADING...
The controversial apology drew plenty of strong responses from around the Hip Hop community — and a few in particular have irked the rapper’s Dreamville camp.
In an outspoken post on X on Tuesday (April 9), longtime signee Omen took issue with artists who appeared on the label’s chart-topping compilation album Revenge of the Dreamers III criticizing Cole’s olive branch.
“Watching all the opportunist that benefited from the ROTD3 stimulus package switch up is really entertaining. Keep that energy in person,” the rapper/producer wrote.
That sentiment was echoed by Bas, who shared a screenshot of a text message that read: “I’ve been told y’all n-ggas we the only family we got… but n-ggas always want to let the kids from across the street swim in our pool until they take a shit in it.”
AD LOADING...
He captioned the image: “the pool’s closed,” seemingly indicating that Dreamville would be cutting ties with those who have been critical of its founder and flagship star.
While neither Omen nor Bas mentioned specific names, a handful of artists who contributed to ROTD 3 have been vocal in their disappointment over J. Cole’s apology.
