J. Cole has clarified the rumors of tension between him and NBA YoungBoy.
The Dreamville leader features on Drake’s latest album, For All the Dogs, released on Friday (October 6), marking their first collaboration in a decade since 2013’s “Jodeci Freestyle.”
In the song “First Person Shooter,” Cole addresses the speculation surrounding him and the Baton Rouge rap star, making it clear that there’s no animosity between them and expressing his continued desire to collaborate.
“N-ggas so thirsty to put me in beef/ Dissectin’ my words and start lookin’ too deep/ I look at the tweets and start suckin’ my teeth/ I’m lettin’ it rock ’cause I love the mystique,” he raps.
His verse continues: “I still wanna get me a song with YB/ Can’t trust everything that you saw on IG/ Just know if I diss you, I made sure you know that I hit you like I’m on your caller ID.”
In May, NBA YoungBoy took aim at J. Cole on his song “Fuck the Industry Pt. 2” for apparently ghosting his request for a collaboration.
“J a ho, that n-gga played it cold like he was gon’ do a feature/ So I texted his line, a muscle sign, I swear it’s gon’ be nice to meet you,” he rapped.
In March 2021, Akademiks asserted that the duo had arranged a studio session, but Cole found himself waiting for “eight hours” as YoungBoy failed to make an appearance.
“YoungBoy said, ‘Yo, my energy is not fit to be in the studio with that guy,”’ the podcaster said. “It wasn’t about J. Cole. It was just that he, and personally what he was going through, wasn’t fit to be in that environment.”
Certain fans speculated that J. Cole might have subtly responded to NBA YoungBoy in his standout verse on Lil Yachty’s “The Secret Recipe,” released last week.
“N-ggas makin’ threats and I laugh, that’s ’cause you ain’t a threat/ Don’t ask how I feel ’bout no rappers, shit, they okay, I guess/ Incomin’ call, press the button, the one that say accept/ He FaceTime to ask for a feature and saw the face of death,” the North Carolina native rapped.
Cole’s longtime manager, Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad, quickly debunked the speculation, clarifying on social media: “I’m pretty sure this is [cap emoji]. Not sure how y’all heard that cole verse and put that together, impressive [crying face emoji].”
In another part of “First Person Shooter,” J. Cole shares his perspective on the enduring debate over who stands as the best MC among Cole, Kendrick Lamar, or Drake.
“Love when they argue the hardest MC, is it K-Dot, is it Aubrey or me?/ We the big three like we started a league, but right now, I feel like Muhammed Ali,” he spits.