J. Cole Explains His Withdrawal from Kendrick Lamar and Drake Feud in New Song: “They Wanted Blood”

In his recent track “Port Antonio,”released on Wednesday, October 9, J. Cole has addressed the ongoing conflict between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. While it appears he leans towards supporting Drake, Cole indicated that he chose to step away from the feud, suspecting that both artists sought to escalate the situation for personal gain. As of the writing of this article, no one else involved has publicly responded to Cole’s new release.

This song comes on the heels of Kendrick Lamar’s jabs at Cole in the collaboration “Like That”featuring Future and Metro Boomin. Prior to the release of “Like That,”J. Cole and Drake had previously referenced their collective status among the “big three”in their track “First Person Shooter,”which inadvertently set off a protracted disagreement between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.

In “Port Antonio,”J. Cole articulated his desire to avoid participating in the rap conflict, suggesting that the tension was being exploited for financial gain. Throughout the five-minute track, he notes:

“I pulled the plug because I seen where that was about to go, they wanted blood, they wanted clicks to make they pockets grow/ Wouldn’t have lost the battle, dog, I would’ve lost a bro. I would’ve gained a foe, and all for what?”

J. Cole Motivates Drake to Create New Music in Port Antonio

Jermaine Lamarr Cole explicitly called out Drake in his most recent song, urging him to produce more music. He expressed:

“Aye Drake, you’ll always be my n**ga, I ain’t ashamed to say you did a lot for me, my n**ga/ F*ck all the narratives, tapping back into your magic pen is what’s imperative.”

Furthermore, Cole emphasized that he prefers not to be remembered for disparaging those he respects or airing private matters after years of acquaintance. He added:

“Jermaine is no king, if that means I gotta dig up dirt and pay the whole team of algorithm bot n**gas just to sway the whole thing on social media, competing for ya favorable memes.”

Although Kendrick Lamar wasn’t named directly in this song, this comes after Cole’s earlier diss track “7 Minute Drill,”which he later took down from streaming services. In that release, he criticized K. Dot’s music as “tragic”and claimed it could bore listeners.

In a different context, at the Dreamville Festival in North Carolina earlier in April, Cole referred to the diss track as “lame” and “goofy,” voicing that he felt “terrible” after its release. He revealed feeling pressured by his contemporaries to battle Lamar yet stated that the released diss did not resonate with his values.

Responses to Cole’s decision to retract the previous track were varied, with notable figures like Fat Joe commenting that it’s questionably strategic to withdraw a diss track, suggesting it could tarnish his reputation amidst the ongoing rivalry with Kendrick Lamar and Drake.

In the aftermath of “Port Antonio’s”release, Drake showed his support by liking J. Cole’s Instagram post promoting the new track.

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