Fat Joe Believes J. Cole’s Legacy Is Tarnished After Apologizing To Kendrick Lamar

The Drake and Kendrick Lamar rap beef sent shockwaves throughout Hip-Hop, and affected another major rapper’s perception in the process. Fat Joe recently claimed that J. Cole ruined his legacy by apologizing to Kendrick Lamar after releasing “7 Minute Drill” and effectively removing himself from the feud.

“I had one of the biggest, most dangerous beefs with 50 Cent, and I was sitting next to him at the game yesterday, having the best time in the world,” he told the Jay Shetty Podcast on their Monday (July 29) episode. “We’re brothers. [But] when you’re called out in Hip-Hop, you gotta respond. I’m a big fan of J. Cole, but it started from that.”

The Terror Squad leader acknowledged that Cole had valid reasons for not staying in the lyrical joust, but his way of stepping away was not good for him in the long run. “He probably saw that it could get real messy and real ugly and so he said, ‘Yo, you know this ain’t me I don’t want no parts of it,'” Joe said. “But, he definitely got a stripe off. They took a stripe off that because in Hip-Hop, when they call you out, you come out.”

J. Cole’s name was immediately invoked in the beef when Kendrick Lamar called out him and Drake on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” in late March. The Dreamville rapper replied on “7 Minute Drill” in early April, but doubled back two days after releasing the track with an apology at Dreamville Festival.

“That was the lamest, goofiest sh*t,” he told the Dreamville Festival audience. “I pray that God aligns me back on my purpose and on my path. I pray that my n**ga didn’t really feel no way. And if he did, my n**ga I got my chin out. Take your best shot, I’ma take that sh*t on the chin. Boy, do what you do. All good […] I pray that y’all forgive a n**ga for the misstep and I could get back to my true path.”

Cole punctuated his apology and withdrawal from the back and forth by removing “7 Minute Drill” from his latest project Might Delete Later. While he did not release any more tracks, his name came up in multiple records from the middle of April up until the beef’s peak in early May, namely “Push Ups,” “Euphoria,” “Family Matters,” and “Not Like Us.”

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