Tyler, The Creator may have taken home HipHopDX‘s 2021 Rapper of the Year honors, but J. Cole begs to differ.
On Friday (January 28) — his 37th birthday, no less — the Dreamville rapper joined forces with Benny The Butcher on “Johnny P’s Caddy,” the first single from the Griselda goon’s upcoming album Tana Talk 4.
At the tail end of his chest-beating, show-stealing guest verse, Cole makes it loud and clear who he thinks the best rapper on the planet is.
“Eureka, Einstein on the brink of the theory of relativity/Really no MC equal, feel me?/Cole pen be lethal, crib like an old MTV show/On God, the best rapper alive/Headshot, now go and ask the best rappers that died/They tell you he never lied, n-gga,” he raps over The Alchemist‘s propulsive, drum-heavy production.
The Fayetteville native spends the rest of his almost two-minute cameo strengthening his case, rapping, “N-gga want me on a song, he gon’ see the wrath of the reaper/I’m prolly gon’ go to Hell if Jesus ask for a feature.”
Benny The Butcher, who doesn’t lack confidence on the mic either, demands his own flowers while running point on the heavyweight collaboration.
“They wanna know what I brought to Griselda, I say validity/They askin’ what work y’all n-ggas put in, I’m like, ‘What didn’t we?'” he spits, before adding, “Besides Con’ and West, tell me who else I gotta respect/’Cause I’m kinda perplexed, it’s ’bout time that I got my respect.”
J. Cole‘s “best rapper alive” boast comes off the back of a big year for the Roc Nation rep, who released his sixth studio album The Off-Season in May. The project topped the Billboard 200 and went platinum while receiving a Best Rap Album nomination at the forthcoming 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
The album also earned three more Grammy nominations (Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance and Best Melodic Rap Performance) thanks to the Lil Baby-assisted “Pride is the Devil” and “My Life” featuring 21 Savage and Morray.
However, Cole’s bold claim somewhat runs counter to the sentiments he expressed on the vulnerable “Pipe Down” freestyle he dropped in September, which heard him conceding to Drake and Kendrick Lamar‘s greatness.
“Success is in the effort/So if a n-gga tried his hardest/I’m at peace knowing God ain’t deal it in this group of cards for me/Some people say I’m running third/They threw the bronze at me/Behind Drake and Dot/Yeah them n-ggas is superstars to me,” he rapped over Drizzy’s Certified Lover Boy beat.
J. Cole Concedes Greatness Of Drake & Kendrick Lamar As A Fan In 'Heaven's EP' Video
Up next for J. Cole is The Fall Off, which will conclude “The Fall Off Era.” As for Benny The Butcher, his eagerly anticipated Tana Talk 4 LP is set to arrive later this year via Def Jam/Griselda.
Much like the previous installment that arrived back in 2018, TT4 is produced entirely by The Alchemist and Daringer. With a host of other respected names likely to appear on the tracklist, Benny is already looking ahead to 2022’s year-end awards.
“Album of the year. Who wanna bet me right now?” he said in a recent Instagram clip. “Album of the year for consideration before it came out, before you heard one single. I got 10 bands to anybody’s five, I got 20 bands to anybody’s 10. Who wanna take that bet?”
Nah. Em still too sharp. Nas just dropped 2 of the best projects of his career. And those last 2 Kendrick features are better than any Cole verse. Dude has no timeless music. No MMLP No Dark Fantasy No Good Kid Maad City No Blueprint. No classics. Not ever sure why he’s in the goat discussions
Forrest Hill Drive > My Dark Twisted Fantasy and it is not even close. Also Cole wrote everything himself. I agree him not being the best, but he should have that attitude. He is def top 5 imo with Em, Nas, Andre 3k and Black thought. Als Cole is more of a feature killer than Kendrick. This collab with Benny >> Family Ties
Em is washed up. all that lyrical miracle stuff he’s been doing the past few years is try hard. Nas is on fire though right now not gonna lie.
try hard ? i thought Em made it look easy and effortless and he just showing off at this point
This dude is laughably overrated sorry. I don’t get it.
He raps better than you.
Top 3 of his generation. Not even better than Jada and Fab let alone Nas, Em, and Jay
He is better than that rapist Fab has ever been. Also better than Jay and Jada without a doubt.
I think if you compare Cole’s first 6 albums to the first 6 albums of any of those guys, and collectively his output has been more solid. He may not have one single album better than Illmatic or Blueprint, but Cole’s best album stands up to any other best album from Jada, Fab, or Em. And his worst album is lightyears ahead of any of those guys worst albums. Plus he produced most of it himself and didn’t rely on features (verses or productions) from other hot artists.
And he’s not even my favorite, Nas is. But to argue Jada, Fab, & Em are better….nah. Em is more lyrical and a better storyteller, but IMO half of his albums are filled with mediocre songs. Jada I would take in a freestyle or battle off the top, but his he’s had a bunch of filler on his albums as well. A lot of Jada and Fab’s albums are just random assortment of songs, with no real meaning behind them. Doesn’t mean they aren’t solid albums, but just another point when talking top overall.
Are you retarded, MMLP is the best album, sharing the nr 1 spot with All Eyez On Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m gonna be bumping this all night tonight!!
Benny & Jermaine!!
I swear I love Cole, but obviously Nas Jadakiss Jay Z and others are around that goes without saying, but Lupe fiasco is always slept on and I can’t wait until his album drops, Kanye’s engineer said it will be album of the decade…. Lupe will grab that title
shits dope af, like a breath of fresh air
When a rapper has to add himself to the “GOAT” conversation then maybe he doesn’t belong in it. I love Cole but whenever someone has to call themselves the “GOAT” then…
Every rapper at one point has called themselves The Goat, The One, Top 5, etc…
Personally I’m better than Cole. This was a great a verse and he has improved over the years. But the last 3 Nas albums are better than any Cole album imo. Just off the top. Andre 3000 is still alive and amazing when he drops verses. I wouldn’t say Cole is the best alive at all, but I think you should feel like you’re the best as an artist. Otherwise why are you releasing music?
You cannot because Nas is still alive.
Man Nas has the most fire “back to to back” albums ever! No rapper is F with Nas. Stop all this mess
How can anyone say this when Nas is still living?
Did this fool hear, Nas – Hollywood Gangsta?