Drake has finally opened up about J. Cole’s decision to step away from his explosive feud with Kendrick Lamar in 2024.
On “Make Them Pay,” one of the standout tracks from Iceman, Drake appears to suggest that Cole consulted Jay-Z before ultimately backing out during the 2024 Dreamville Festival.
“Your n***as run and talk to Hov for a second opinion / Me, I stood ten T’s and accepted the mission,” Drake raps. “‘Cause I’d much rather death than submission / How can you press the ignition and let some memories of the past affect your decision? / I love you ‘cause of the history, but if we bein’ real, I could never forgive you / And you never called me back, but destiny’s written, for real / Fuck a big three anyway, there was too many chefs in the kitchen, it was a mess to begin with, yeah.”
Drake also seemingly revisits Cole’s exit from the battle on “Make Them Remember,” a song that leaked shortly before the album officially arrived.
“I could’ve fell back like the married rapper, but we engaged,” he raps.
Back in 2023, Drake and Cole teamed up for “First Person Shooter,” where Cole famously referred to himself, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar as hip-hop’s “big three.” Months later, Kendrick ignited one of rap’s biggest feuds ever with his verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That.”
“Motherfuck the big three, n***a, it’s just big me,” Kendrick declared on the track, sparking a flood of responses across the rap world. Shortly after, Cole released “7 Minute Drill” on his mixtape Might Delete Later. However, less than a week later, he publicly apologized to Kendrick during Dreamville Festival and later removed the song from streaming platforms. The feud only intensified from there, eventually leading to five diss tracks being exchanged between Drake and Kendrick.
Earlier this year, Cole also reflected on the situation during an appearance on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, revealing that Drake had originally planned to attend the same Dreamville Festival where Cole apologized.
“He was supposed to be at Dreamville Fest. That was planned. He didn’t come,” Cole explained. “I appreciate him for [not turning up]. He’s like, ‘I didn’t want to come down and put you in a situation on that stage and say something that you would have to stand behind.’ And I’m like, ‘Thank God that you didn’t, because it left the space for me to receive what I was supposed to do.’”
