J Cole has taken a u-turn in his spat with fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar, apologising to his former collaborator mere days after calling him out
The song titled 7 Minute Drill, was a reply to Lamar’s verse on the hit single Like That, in which the star asserted his dominance of the rap game.
Cole hit back by saying Lamar had “fallen off like the Simpsons” and called his latest album “tragic”.
During a performance at his Dreamville festival in North Carolina on Sunday (7 April), Cole told the audience of his regrets about responding to Lamar on the track.
“I ain’t gonna lie to y’all the past two days felt terrible,” he told an audience at the Dreamville Festival in North Carolina. “I damn near had a relapse”.
He asked for forgiveness from Lamar, calling the song a “mis-step” and said he hoped to “get back to my true path”.
The war of words started last year on the song First Person Shooter, where Cole suggested that he, Drake and Lamar were the current “big three” names in hip-hop.
Lamar took exception to that description. In a fiery verse on the song Like That, he declared there was no “big three – it’s just big me”.
He went on to call Cole’s best verses insubstantial – “a light pack” – and claimed he was the Prince to Drake’s Michael Jackson.
Speaking on stage on Sunday, Cole said he had felt pressured to write a comeback.
“Y’all heard that bazooka that was dropped on the game, right? Boy, I must have had a thousand missed calls. Texts flooded.”
Friends and colleagues were calling it “war time” and said they wanted to “see blood,” he explained.
“I was conflicted because… I know how I feel about my peers, these two [rappers] that I’ve been blessed to even stand beside… But the world want to see blood.”
Although he tried to keep the tone of his verse friendly, the end result “didn’t sit right with my spirit”.
He went on to praise Lamar’s back catalogue, calling him “one of the greatest”, and hoping that he hadn’t taken offence.
“And if he did, I got my chin out. Take your best shot, I’ll take that on the chin.”
Cole went on to promise that 7 Minute Drill would be removed, or updated, from streaming services.
