Just days after he responded to Kendrick Lamar's fiery "Like That" verse with "7 Minute Drill," J. Cole apologized and indicated that he plans to pull the song from streaming services. Now fans think the apology is mirroring another moment in hip-hop history.
In 2001, Jay-Z and Nas were duking it out on wax in a back-and-forth that many consider one of the best hip-hop beefs of all time. Hov directly addressed his issues with Nas on his song "Takeover," which dropped on his album The Blueprint on September 11, 2001. A few months later, Nas released "Ether," which is still regarded as one of the most vicious diss tracks ever. Jay refused to back down and released "Super Ugly."
As reported by HipHopDX in 2001, Jay apologized shortly after the latter song dropped because his mother wasn't happy with what he said on the record. "Mom put in a call and said, ‘That went too far,'" Jay said in an appearance on Hot 97. "She’s never, ever called me about music. So I was like ‘Okay, okay, okay. I’ll go shut it down.'"
The particular issue Gloria Carter had was the inclusion of bars directed at Nas' then-girlfriend, Carmen Bryan. "I felt like I didn’t think about women’s feelings," Jay added. "It was really like, ‘Let me meet your level of disrespect with this level of disrespect.'"
On the song, Jay rapped some wild lines about Nas' girlfriend. "I came in your Bentley backseat/Skeeted in your Jeep/Left condoms on your baby-seat," he rapped. "Bitch, you was kissing my dick when you was kissing that bitch."
The two continued to trade shots in the years that followed, but "Super Ugly" was the last time either directed an entire diss track at the other. By 2005, they buried the hatchet and performed onstage together.
While it ultimately all worked out and they both overcame the beef, not everyone was happy. Last year, former Roc-A-Fella Records executive Dame Dash said he was disappointed when Hov made nice with the Illmatic MC. "When he apologized and shit, I was like, 'No!'" Dame said on his podcast The CEO Show. "I was hitting him like, 'Get off the radio. We looking crazy.'"
Sunday night, Cole told his fans he felt "lame" and "terrible" for dissing Kendrick Lamar on "7 Minute Drill," the closing track on his new album Might Delete Later. "I just wanna come up here and publicly be like bruh, that was the lamest, goofiest shit," he said during his headline set at Dreamville Festival. "It's love. And I pray that y'all are like forgive a n***a for the misstep and I can get back to my true path, 'cause I ain't gonna lie to y'all, the past two days felt terrible."
As with when Jay apologized, some of Cole's fanbase is not happy about him expressing regret over "7 Minute Drill."
Cole's diss lyrically mirrors Jay-Z's mockery of Nas on "Takeover," but now the apology has added an extra wrinkle to the situation. Many have suggested his apology is just like when "Super Ugly" dropped and Hov regretted it, regardless of whether Cole's bars were as disrespectful as anything Jay said on "Super Ugly."
Check out some of the reactions to the parallel below.
