American rapper J. Cole has shared why he decided to pull back from releasing a diss track aimed at fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar.
Fans might recall that J. Cole initially responded to Kendrick on his track ‘7 Minute Drill,’ where he said Lamar “fell off like the Simpsons” after Lamar dissed both Cole and Drake on Future and Metro Boomin’s song ‘Like That,’ which featured him.
In an unexpected move, during his performance at the 2024 Dreamville Festival in North Carolina, J. Cole paused to issue an apology to Kendrick.
On his latest single, ‘Port Antonio,’ Cole explained his reasoning for stepping away from the feud. He claimed that those fueling the controversy were only interested in “blood” and generating publicity for profit.
He expressed that continuing the beef would have damaged his relationship with Lamar.
In the song, he raps: “I pulled the plug because I saw where that was headed. They wanted blood, they wanted clicks to line their pockets.
“They see the fire in my lyrics and think I’m chasing conflict. I wouldn’t have lost the battle, but I’d have lost a brother, gained an enemy, and for what?”