J. Cole has dropped a new track called “Port Antonio,” which talks about the quiet clash between Kendrick Lamar and Drake.
In this song, Cole steps into the world of diss tracks again after he made waves with his part in Drake’s “First Person Shooter.” Back then, he called himself, Drake, and Lamar the “big three” of rap. But things got heated when Lamar hit back with “Like That,” saying, “Motherfuck the big three.… it’s just big me.” This led to Drake firing back with “Push Ups” and then Cole saying sorry for his earlier words in “7 Minute Drill.” You probably know how all that played out.
Now it seems like Cole is trying to calm things down between them. He raps in “Port Antonio” about not taking sides: “They say I’m pickin’ sides, don’t you lie on me,” adding that Drake has been important to him: “Drake, you’ll always be my n***a/I ain’t ashamed to say you did a lot for me, my n***a/Fuck all the narratives.” He’s urging everyone to focus on their music instead.
The song also flips Cleo Sol’s tune “Know That You Are Loved” and mentions how some rappers might use bots to boost their streams or sway opinions online. He even talks about how silly these rap battles have become on social media—“on social media, competing for your favorable memes to be considered best.”
Cole ends up explaining why he’s stepping away from this fight: “I pulled the plug because I seen where that was ’bout to go/They wanted blood, they wanted clicks to make they pockets grow/They see this fire in my pen and think I’m dodgin’ smoke/I wouldn’t have lost a battle, dog, I woulda lost a bro.”
Fans sometimes wonder if these feuds are more about publicity than real issues.
