Entertainment
J Cole apologises to Kendrick Lamar over diss track
J Cole, the US rapper, has apologised for recording a diss track
aimed at Kendrick Lamar, his colleague.
Last year, Cole, on the song ‘First Person Shooter’, had
suggested that he, Drake and Lamar were the current “big three” names in
hip-hop.
Lamar, however, disagreed with Cole. In his verse on the
song ‘Like That’, he said there was “no big three — it’s just big me”.
He also called Cole’s best verses “insubstantial” and
claimed he was the “Prince to Drake’s Michael Jackson”.
In response to Lamar, Cole released a song titled ‘7 Minute
Drill’, saying Lamar has “fallen off like The Simpsons”.
In the track, he also described Lamar’s latest album ‘Mr.
Morale & The Big Steppers’ as “tragic”.
Speaking on Sunday at the Dreamville Festival in North
Carolina, Cole apologised for his “lame” and “goofy” response.
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He said he had gotten “a thousand missed calls” and felt
pressured to write a comeback.
Cole said since releasing the song, he has “felt terrible”,
nearly had a relapse, and could “no longer sleep well at night”.
He praised Lamar, calling him “one of the greatest”, and
hoped he was not offended by the track.
Cole would later promise that ‘7 Minute Drill’ will be
“removed” from all streaming services.
“I’m so proud of my latest project, ‘Might Delete Later,’
except for one part. One part of that made me feel like it is the lamest sh*t I
ever did in my life,” he said.
“They said it was
wartime and wanted to see blood. I was conflicted because I know my heart and
how I feel about these two nig**s that I’ve been blessed to even stand beside
in this game.
“In trying to get this music out, I moved in a way that made
me feel spiritually bad. That sh*t doesn’t sit right with my spirit. That sh*t
disrupts my peace.
“How many people think Kendrick Lamar is one of the greatest
ever to pick up a microphone? You all love Kendrick Lamar, correct? As do I.
“I want to publicly say that was the lamest and goofiest
sh*t I’ve ever done. I pray that Lamar didn’t feel any kind of way. And if he
did, I got my chin out. Take your best shot, I’ll take that on the chin.”
The trio have dominated the rap genre since the 2010s, with
Lamar winning 17 Grammys, Drake five, and Cole two.
