J. Cole just responded to Kendrick Lamar and rap warfare amongst the Big 3 is now in full effect.
After Kendrick sent shots at Drake and J. Cole (but mainly Drake) on “Like That” last month, Cole responded first on “7 Minute Drill” from his new surprise project Might Delete Later. In the verse, Cole takes aim at Kendrick by criticizing his discography and saying Dot only dissed him and Drake to stay relevant.
Cole’s jabs come with a hint of restraint, though, as he still calls Kendrick a “brother” that he “loves,” and says he wishes it didn't have to come to this. But Cole clearly values rap competition, so he responded anyway, and now the Big 3 are all trading shots. With Cole sending the first return fire at Kendrick, here is a breakdown of his “7 Minute Drill” verse and Might Delete Later, as well as where the competitive rap sparring might go from here.
What did Cole say and what does it mean?
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Let’s start with the title. Cole named his response “7 Minute Drill,” alluding to the writing exercises he was doing before The Off-Season. The whole idea was to sharpen his pen by forcing himself to make a verse about a specific topic in 7 minutes or less. So if we take the name of the song at face value, it seems Cole took the same approach here and is using “7 Minute Drill” as a lyrical exercise to respond to Kendrick Lamar’s “Like That” verse.
Cole opens the verse by saying that Kendrick is “still doing shows, but fell off like The Simpsons,” likening his career arc to the waning quality of the popular animated TV show. Then he picks apart Kendrick’s discography: “Your first shit was classic, your last shit was tragic/ Your second shit put niggas to sleep, but they gassed it.” Even though Kendrick’s first album is technically Section. 80, people are interpreting the line as Cole saying Good Kid, m.A.A.d City was a classic, but Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers was sleepy, while Dot’s “second shit” (To Pimp A Butterfly) was over-hyped. Saying that Kendrick’s album “put niggas to sleep” is an interesting angle to take because Cole had to battle memes from people saying he made “sleepy music” for much of his early career (even Metro Boomin made a joke about it back in 2011).
He continues, “Your third shit was massive and that was your prime/ I was trailin' right behind and I just now hit mine.” Here he’s recognizing the greatness of DAMN, while also saying that Kendrick never surpassed that moment. Cole gives these backhanded compliments throughout the verse, almost as if he doesn’t want to fully commit to dissing Dot because they’ve been cordial up until this point. He throws light jabs, like saying that if Kendrick “wasn’t dissin, then we wouldn’t be discussin ‘em,” but none of these disses feel like shots aimed at the head.
Cole sounds like he’s pulling his punches at several points in this verse, like when he raps, “Lord, don't make me have to smoke this nigga 'cause I fuck with him/ But push come to shove, on this mic, I will humble him/I'm Nino with this thing, this that New Jack City meme/Yeah, I'm aimin' at Gee Money, cryin' tears before I bust at him.” This is a reference to the meme about the New Jack City scene where Wesley Snipes’ character is forced to shoot his best friend.
The second half of the song features a sped-up sample of Drake’s “Energy,” and Cole jabs at Dot’s small stature when he says “your arms might be too short to box with the God” and jabs at Kendrick’s lack of musical output: “Four albums in 12 years, nigga, I can divide.” This bar, in tandem with “he averagin one hot verse like every 30 months or somethin” are parallels to Jay-Z’s “Takeover” diss at Nas when Hov rapped: “That’s one hot album every ten year average” and “Four albums in ten years, nigga, I can divide.”
Cole closes the verse by saying, “This is merely a warning shot to back niggas down,” implying that he’s indulging in this lyrical warfare simply because he loves the sport of rap competition, rather than because he has any real malice in his heart for his opponent. This might be why he didn’t go as hard as he could have on “7 Minute Freestyle,” because he’s still “hesitant” and “loves” his brother Kendrick.
How does it compare to “Like That?”
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If “Like That” is Kendrick punching Drake in the mouth and intentionally hitting Cole with the follow-through, then “7 Minute Drill” is Cole responding by shoving Kendrick in the chest but not trying to cause him any serious bodily harm. It feels like a warning shot from Cole, who is letting Kendrick know that he’s ready for war if it comes to it. Metro Boomin made the better beat out of the two songs, which already gives “Like That” an edge over “7 Minute Drill” and it’s impressive that a single verse from Kendrick is able to compete with an entire 3-minute song from Cole. “7 Minute Drill” has some clever moments, like the New Jack City meme and the double entendre about Kendrick’s small stature, but sometimes less is more, and “Motherfuck the Big 3, nigga, it’s just big me” clears those other bars. “Like That,” which is currently sitting at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 earns extra points for being both potent with its lyrics and screamable in the club, giving it the advantage over “7 Minute Freestyle.”
Are there other disses on 'Might Delete Later' besides “7 Minute Drill”?
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“7 Minute Drill” has the most direct shots on Might Delete Later, but Cole does throw other jabs at Kendrick (and the rap world at large) throughout the rest of the project, too. On “Stickz N Stonez,” he raps, “Thеse niggas get rich and become so detached, they music start havin' that surface feel/ Not a subliminal, speakin' in general, feelings get hurt when words get spilled/ Sticks and stones may break your bones, but sayin' my name in a verse will kill.” Even though he overtly says that these lines aren't meant to be subliminal, they connect to his bars on “7 Minute Freestyle” when he raps about Kendrick taking large gaps between projects and only dissing him to maintain relevance. Cole also has a slick verse on “Pi,” a track that interestingly features Kendrick’s old labelmate Ab-Soul, where he raps, “His album dropped, it was trash/ I litter it, like I can't spell it,” which would connect back to “7 Minute Drill” where he was criticizing Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. This is followed by an ill-advised line where Cole uses transphobic logic to suggest that someone (who fans are assuming is Kendrick) is “pussy” despite taking on the identity of being the “chosen” one.
How is the rest of the tape?
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“7 Minute Drill” is going to get the most attention on Might Delete Later, but there is a lot of great rapping elsewhere on the project. One of the highlights from the tape is “Ready ‘24,” where Cole and Cam’ron take turns spitting over the classic Diplomats “I’m Ready” beat, featuring some of the most energized rhymes Cole has delivered since his last studio album. He also finds a special pocket on “Stickz N Stonez,” where he raps, “Murder galore, turn into Thor, I gotta keep a hammer/Case weather get inclement, shots rain on the innocent, the neighbors still don't know who sent them shits, it's like a secret Santa,” carrying the Thor analogy over two lines and using the “hammer” double entendre to connect his secret Santa double entendre in the next bar. This wordplay culminates in his closing verse on “Pi,” where Cole spends nearly three minutes slicing into the buttery soul sample, weaving between cadences with ease before closing the verse with a rhetorical question; “How many ‘Verses of the Year’ this year is Cole gonna write?”
What happens next?
