Drake and J. Cole appear to have very different stances when it comes to the idea of competition in rap — and that has been highlighted by a whiteboard that was apparently backstage on their It’s All a Blur — Big as the What? Tour.
Posted online by Akademiks, the whiteboard reportedly belonged to Drake, not J. Cole, and contained the message: “The rap game will never be at peace. There will always be competition. And as long as there’s competition, there will never be peace. Everyone wants to be the one.”
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The whiteboard was revealed to be real by comedian Ben Da Donnn, who had been touring with the pair.
He commented on the original post: “Every show* not just the last one.”
The whiteboard’s message only illustrates the differences between Drake and J. Cole’s approach to rivalries within rap, with the latter recently causing uproar after apologizing to Kendrick Lamar for dissing him on “7 Minute Drill”.
Akademiks was one of many who criticized Cole for the apology, writing on X: “This N-gga J Cole just gave Kendrick Lamar a bye round in the Battle. Kendrick Don’t even gotta drop another song.. Literally the N-gga u dissed… Tried to Diss u back and APOLOGIZED for even tryna disrespect u. WTF going on. We’ve never seen this in the history of rap.”
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He added: “I knew J Cole wasn’t bout dat shit when He was getting Buttered up By Drake every night on stage for being #3 and he stay blushing accepting the runner up award for years before now claiming He’s the best. N-gga HE NEVER BELIEVED IT.”
He continued: “I aint gon lie… A NY rapper wouldn’t be apologizing for SHIT… neither a LA rapper..I dont know what J Cole on… the Carolinas aint looking good. J Cole really was never built to be #1 … he was always the Middle Child literally… Leave it to Drake and Kendrick to battle it out.”
While Drake has yet to address Kendrick Lamar’s shots on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” outside of an oblique concert speech, fans have reason to believe he’s readying a response track.
Over the weekend, the 6 God shared a photo on his Instagram Stories that showed the inside of what appeared to be a locker room.
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On a bench was the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy (given each year to the winner of the NBA Finals), next to a notebook and a pen — which some have interpreted as a hint at an impending diss song.
