J. Cole dropped a heated new single, Port Antonio, which talks about his decision to back out of the ongoing feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake.
The track surprised fans when it dropped on YouTube on October 9, and in it, the rapper shares his reasons for his decision, as well as addresses Drake head-on, penning that the two will always be tight.
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The track goes:
"Protectin' legacies, so lines got crossed, perhaps regrettably/My friends went to war, I walked away with all they blood on me. Now some will discredit me, tryna wipe away my pedigree/But please, find a ni**a out that's rappin' this incredibly."
The track also sees J. Cole insinuate that the feud between Kendrick and Drake is a money-grabbing ploy, done to catch fans' attention. He also raps about waving the white flag to maintain his relationships. The track comes on the heels of the rapper's 7 Minute Drill, a response to Kendrick Lamar's diss track Like That.
The internet reacted ruthlessly, with many picking sides. Some claim Drake came out on top, while others pointed out that J. Cole was losing anyway. One user said,
"jcole basically saying kendrick botted the whole beef lol. Drake easily won this beef."
Others chimed in as well.
"Niiice but let's be honest....Cole would've lost the battle, a bro and still gain a foe," one user stated.
"Cole is a nice guy. 3rd place secured," another tweeted.
"Bro exposed Kendrick that’s crazy," yet another claimed.
"I love Cole’s music, but he’s acting like we didn’t hear 7 minute Drill. Cole would’ve lost the battle arguably worse than Drake. On top of that he would’ve gained a formidable foe and he would’ve never made a Grippy verse feature to take people’s minds off of his L," one user claimed.
More and more hopped on the bandwagon to dish out their opinions.
"bro really just playing all sides," one user joked.
"J. Cole is like Switzerland, people will interpret his decision to stay neutral as honorable, or they'll see weakness in it. What I don't consider wise is self-reflecting in a self-righteous manner, instead of the more honest insecurity his resignation must bring him," one user stated.
"Is this the same ni**a who got on stage and said he couldn’t sleep for days," one user quipped.
Check out snippets of J. Cole's track below
J. Cole rhymes on the track:
"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 they think I'm dodging smoke/ I wouldn't have lost a battle, dawg, I would have lost a bro/ And all for what?/ Just to obtain some ol' props from strangers that don't got a clue what I been aiming fo' since the age of 14/ Jermaine is no king if that means I got to dig up dirt and pay a whole team of algorithm bot ni**as just to sway the whole thing on social media/ Competing for your favorable memes."
In the track, he also stresses on bowing out of the battle for he knows that not doing so comes at the cost of "losing a bro" and "gaining a foe." He then calls on Drake by name:
"Aye Drake, you'll always be my n***a, I ain't ashamed to say you did a lot for me, my n***a/ F*ck all the narratives, tapping back into your magic pen is what's imperative."
Back in May 2023, J. Cole took to the stage at his Dreamville Festival in North Carolina to tell the world he regretted dropping 7 Minute Drill.
He said he felt "lame" and "terrible" for taking a shot at Kendrick, and eventually went on to pull the track out from all streaming platforms.
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