J. Cole headlined his annual Dreamville Festival last night (April 7) at Dorothea Dix Park. The performance happened just days after Cole dissed Kendrick Lamar on the new song “7 Minute Drill,” and Cole took time during his set to address the track, explaining that he felt conflicted about making and releasing it.
Cole began his speech by saying how proud he felt about the project that “7 Minute Drill” closes, Might Delete Later. “I’m so proud of that project, except for one part,” the rapper said. “It’s one part of that shit that make me feel like, man, that’s the lamest shit I ever did in my fucking life, right?”
Cole went on to refer to Kendrick Lamar’s “Like That”—the song that ignited the artists’ recent feud—as “that bazooka that was dropped on the motherfuckin’ game,” and said he felt a great deal of pressure to respond to Lamar. “I was conflicted because, one, I know my heart—you know what I mean?—and, like, I know how I feel about my peers, these two n****s that I just been blessed to even stand beside in this game [Drake and Kendrick Lamar], let alone chase, chase they greatness, right? So, I felt conflicted ’cause I’m like, bruh, I know I don’t really feel no way. But the world wanna see blood!”
J. Cole continued, “I moved in a way that I feel, spiritually feel bad on it.” He also said he was trying to be competitive and “friendly” with “7 Minute Drill,” but that, ultimately, the final song “don’t sit right with my spirit.”
After explaining himself, Cole had a pair of questions for the Raleigh, North Carolina, crowd: “How many people think Kendrick Lamar is one of the greatest motherfuckers to ever touch a fuckin’ microphone? Dreamville, y’all love Kendrick Lamar, correct?” He gave his own answer, too: “As do I.”