SOME PAYBACKS COME SOONER, SOME…

A side-by-side photo of J.Cole and Kendrick Lamar
source:people.com

The early 2010s had marked a lull period in the rap industry in terms of the conspicuous cut throat competitiveness that had been a core element of the rap culture— evident in rap battles; which has been in existence since the primordial hiphop days. With a new generation of rappers coming up then, there certainly was vagueness on those that could be considered its front runners. Many argued that rap had lost it competitive touch— something that had been the driving force behind its emergence as a major genre in the world. Others argued that the genre had become watered down, citing “watered down “ rappers as the reason.

In 2010, xxl magazine had released its yearly list of bubbling new artist to look out for. Big Sean, a Detroit rapper; as well as other rappers made the list that year. This, in effect had put the spotlight on these select rappers. 2013 saw Sean drop an album to positive critical reception. The album which consisted of 15 songs had a song left out for sample clearance reasons. Despite this given as the official reason , many suspected that this song titled ‘control’ was removed from the track list by Sean as a preventive control measure (pun intended 😅) on the effect the song would have had on the album. Positive or negative, I guess he wasn’t trying to have one highly controversial song take the shine off the other songs on his album.

It was said that big Sean, whose full name is Sean Michael Leonard Anderson, contrary to NO ID’s initial intention for it a be a street track for Sean, had suggested to feature jay electronica Compton’s fast rising star at the time, Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick Lamar’s reputation, already growing at the time, increased exponentially as an after effect of this feature. The over seven minutes song saw Kendrick call out and shot straight at his rap contemporaries then. On the track, Kendrick rapped:

“I’m usually homeboys with the same niggas I’m rhymin’ with/ But this is Hip Hop and them n-ggas should know what time it is/ And that goes for Jermaine Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Wale/ Pusha T, Meek Millz, A$AP Rocky, Drake/ Big Sean, Jay Electron’, Tyler, Mac Miller/ I got love for you all, but I’m tryna murder you n-ggas,”

While this move was lauded and hyped by hip hop enthusiastic fans— who even tagged it the rebirth of hip hop— this didn’t sit well with some of the rappers he called out on the track. This track spawned a series of events in the rap space— a testament of the monumental effect it had on the rap industry at that time. Rappers had diverging views on the ambitious remarks made by Kendrick. Among rappers who took umbrage to this verse, was J. Cole, a North Carolina rapper, who like Big Sean, was also in the xxl’s 2010 class. Subsequent days would see J. Cole—who was tagged a friend of Kendrick Lamar, as both had been spotted hanging out on numerous occasions— reply Kendrick Lamar on the remix of a song titled TKO, which he was featured on by singer, Justin Timberlake. On this track, Cole rapped:

"Even my momma asked what I'mma do. Decisions, decisions/In case this is war, then I load up on all ammunition/If a n---a want problems, my trigger's on auto. I’ll make sure that nobody miss him/Now pack up your s--t. You don't believe in me?/I don’t need you, I got me, b---h."

A photo of Cole and Drake
source:instagram
Fast forward to this year, 2024, more than a decade had passed with Cole and Kendrick having no real clash as a result of that control verse. Both Rappers had in due course, grown to be two of the best rappers of their generation. With the latter being tagged by most as arguably the best rapper of his generation and even one of the best rappers ever. J. Cole on the other hand, having a successful career that has been experiencing massive growth since the release of his third studio album; 2014 FHD, and recently culminated in him scoring his first number one song on billboard hot 100. He achieved this on a song titled “first person shooter”. The lyrics of the song alludes to claims made by the general hip hop community of both rappers being among the ‘big 3’ rappers currently in the rap game. He was featured on this song by Drake, another acclaimed rapper— whom together with the pair of Kendrick and J. Cole are regarded the top three rappers of their generation. This milestone, which already had been achieved by drake as well as Kendrick in the past— more than once— was an indication of how big the song was. J. Cole had been having a run of great features, and this was evident in the fact that, not too long before scoring a number one song, a song he was featured on had previously peaked at the number two position on the billboard hot100 list. Well aware of his current position in the rap game, on this song, Cole rapped:

”Love when they argue the hardest MC
Is it K-Dot, is it Aubrey or me?
We the big three like we started a league
But right now, I feel like Muhammed Ali”

A photo of Kendrick Lamar and Future
source:fpbs
This song, despite being well received by many hip hop fans for many reasons, apparently did not sit well with Kendrick Lamar for reasons we could easily make guesses on. Future and producer, metroboomin recruited Kendrick on a song titled “like that” off a collaborative album by the aforesaid artists. On the song, Kendrick Lamar airs his distaste against the collaborative effort by Drake and Cole. This song saw him throw direct shots at the Drake with Cole catching some strays, while also repudiating the ‘big three’ claim made by Cole on the song. On ‘like that’, addressing this claim made by jcole of Kendrick being neck and neck with both cole and drake, Kendrick raps:
” motherf—k the big three, n—ga, it’s just big me”

A photo of J. Cole
source:images.app
A couple weeks following the release of ‘like that’, to the exhilaration of many buzzing fans, saw J. Cole reply Kendrick. His reply came on his song titled “7 minutes drill “ off his surprise project titled “might delete later”. While Cole didn’t call out Kendrick’s name explicitly on this track, he certainly dished an obviously direct reply to Kendrick’s verse that may possibly ignite a rap feud. While Cole called his reply a warning shot, his readiness for a possible rap warfare was quite on display. The song title is a gotten from and a reference of Cole’s 7 minutes songwriting drills. While critics polarized in their reaction to this song, I personally think the song glaringly displays Cole’s confidence and top-shelf rap skill if nothing. The double versed song also interpolates lines from Jay-z in his 2001 diss song “takeover”. With things taking a twist, J. Cole has since publicly regretted for dissing Kendrick Lamar. He aired his regret on his 2024 dreamville festival set, referring to the track, he said: “It's one part of that shit that makes me feel like, man that's the lamest shit I did in my fucking life, right?”

Taking all related events into consideration, my take from everything is, while Cole may honestly have tried to move past the ‘situation’ with Kendrick Lamar, there’s a slight possibility he still stomached some grievances from over a decade ago. I also can’t help but feel like Cole had been patiently waiting for an opportunity like this to present itself, seeing how he replied Kendrick’s indirect line with two verses. Another perspective to this is, Cole just might have been itchy to prove that he is the better rapper between both rappers— skill-set wise. This second speculation is valid if you factor in the fact that the rap game (like most games) is highly competitive (like I mentioned earlier). Whatever the case, I can’t help but feel the man (J. Cole) finally got his chance to return the ‘favour’ as well as show he isn’t scared to battle any rapper in the rap game. It also for sure did feel great to watch it all go down.