The Big 3 has given us our first great rap beef in quite some time, as J. Cole fired back at Kendrick Lamar on “7 Minute Drill,” the closing track on Cole’s surprise project, Might Delete Later.
Might Delete Later features guest appearances from Ari Lennox, Young Dro, Gucci Mane, Cam'ron, Bas, Central Cee, Daylyt, and notably Ab-Soul.
Cole's response arrives after Kendrick took shots at Drake and Cole on "Like That," a standout from Future and Metro Boomin's We Don't Trust You album, where Lamar called out at the two for including him as part of the “Big 3” on their duet “First Person Shooter,” released last year.
TDE's Punch reacted to Cole's response, specifically a line where he throws shade at Kendrick's 2015 album To Pimp A Butterfly, rapping, "Yo second shit put n***as to sleep but they gassed it."
"SMH. I thought To Pimp A Butterfly was pretty good. lol," Punch wrote on Twitter.
Punch went on to praise both rappers for claiming the Big 3's beef has made him aware that "a lot of you music inudstry ppl are Kdot haters."
"The current rap climate got me realizing a lot of you music industry ppl are Kdot haters," he wrote. "lol you telling me you n***as been secretly hating ALL this time!"
He added, "lol. I didn’t know(I knew). 'music industry ppl,' I’m definitely NOT referring to the rappers involved here. I’m talking about the folks that work in music. You n***as."
Terrace Martin, who earned writing credits on several tracks off To Pimp A Butterfly, liked Punch's first tweet, before joking about what the critics have said about Kendrick's 2015 album.
"Smooth jazz," he wrote in one tweet, adding, "Soft ass raps."
Meanwhile, TDE rapper Reason hopped on Twitter to remind rap fans that Kendrick and Cole are exchanging shots in a friendly way, which he believes is great for the overall competition of the rap game.
"Clearly yall don’t understand what friendly sparring means lol n***as will rap!" he said. "It just won’t go pass that or get super personal, that’s what I’m saying. But I think both of them will GO!!!!"
He continued, "I hope y'all understand this sport and don't take it too seriously, at least from dot and Cole. This just gon be friendly sparring. I'm excited to hear both get the shit off with no real issues! Just rap! Rap fun again man."
SiR had no words, but simply retweeted a tweet that said "me being a fan of both of Kendrick & Cole and they're going at it."
In 2022, Lamar entered a new chapter in his career when he left TDE to launch his company pgLang, co-founded with former TDE president Dave Free. Lamar was one of the main stars during those years.
In light of J. Cole's new release, it appears that the Dreamville rapper has inked a new licensing deal.
As reported by Audiomack's SVP of Operations Brian Zisook, Cole's new project was released under Cole World, Inc., under exclusive license to Interscope Records, while his last album, 2021's The Offseason, was released under Dreamville, Inc., Under exclusive license to Roc Nation Records.
