J. Cole offered up his response to ducking the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud with his “Port Antonio” track last week, which sparked plenty of debate on X and other social media platforms. One person not feeling Cole’s reply was Joe Budden, who ripped into the Dreamville boss during the Oct. 13 Joe Budden Podcast episode for his alleged lack of accountability when it came to the “big three” and the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef that he played a role in.
“What do you mean you finally free? That dismisses all accountability from the part that he has played in the big three debacle,” Budden stated on his show. “What do you mean you finally free as if you never wanted parts of the big three conversation? That is a load of crap and I’m not going to let you n—-s just piss on me and tell me it’s raining. Get the f–k out of here.”
But he wasn’t done there. “Don’t pop back up and say, ‘If I would’ve I could’ve, but then I would’ve lost a [bro].’ N—a, no, not over ‘Dead Presidents.’ You ever heard ‘Dead Presidents?’” the rapper-turned-podcaster continued. “The n—a was holding his man’s hands at the hospital bed saying, ‘I’m going to kill them n—-s for you.’ Get the f–k out of here with this soft s–t. I hate this soft hip-hop s–t. It’s soft.”
Budden’s caveat being that Cole is rapping at an exceptionally high level, but the points are made separate of each other.
It’s been just more than six months since J. Cole initially jabbed at Kendrick with his “7 Minute Drill” diss track in April, before taking the stage at his Dreamville Festival days later and apologizing.
Budden compared the move to a UFC fighter throwing a punch and leaving the ring seconds later. “He did get in the octagon and do it,” he said on his podcast. “And climbed out. If we saw it in a UFC fight, we’d laugh at the n—a… He don’t get to come in and repurpose some s–t and reframe what we forgot about.”
Cole opens up about the feud with added perspective on “Port Antonio,” which arrived Oct. 9, claiming he wouldn’t have lost the battle, but lost “a bro.”
“I pulled the plug because I seen where that was ’bout to go/ They wanted blood, they wanted clicks to make they pockets grow/ They see this fire in my pen and think I’m dodging smoke/ I wouldn’t have lost a battle, dog, I woulda lost a bro/ I woulda gained a foe,” he raps.
Cole then even showed love to Drake while looking to inspire him to keep his head up. “They say I’m pickin’ sides, don’t you lie on me, my n—a to start another war/ Ay, Drake, you’ll always be my n—a/ I ain’t ashamed to say you did a lot for me, my n—a/ F–k all the narratives/ Tapping back into your magic pen is what’s imperative,” he rhymes.
Watch the episode below. The J. Cole discussion starts around the 37-minute mark.
