Joe Budden has sternly criticized J. Cole for what he views as him shirking responsibility for his role in the heated beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake.
Cole addressed the beef on his new song “Port Antonio,” marking his first statement since he bowed out of his brief battle with Kendrick earlier this year.
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Budden was not a fan of the message of the song, on which Cole declares he is “finally free” of the feud.
“What do you mean you’re ‘finally free’?” the former Slaughterhouse rapper asked on his self-titled podcast. “That dismisses all accountability from the part that he has played in the ‘Big Three’ debacle, referencing Cole’s guest verse on Drake’s “First Person Shooter” and since-deleted “7 Minute Drill” diss song aimed at Kendrick.
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“What do you mean you’re ‘finally free’ as if you never wanted parts of the ‘Big Three’ conversation? That is a load of crap! I’m not gonna let you n-ggas just piss me on and tell me it’s raining. Get the fuck outta here!”
Budden continued addressing Cole by saying: “Don’t pop back up and say, ‘If I would’ve, I could’ve, but then I would’ve lost [a brother].’ Not over [the same sample used on JAY-Z‘s] ‘Dead Presidents.’
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“I hate this soft Hip Hop shit! It’s soft, call it what it is! These Hip Hop n-ggas is feeling like hoes out here!”
Despite taking issue with the lyrical content of the track, Joe Budden did praise Cole’s technical skill on “Port Antonio”: “My caveat: exceptional rapping. I’m saying two different points. This is exceptional rapping.”
Joe Budden went crazy on J. Cole for dropping Port Antonio and says he's disgusted at how soft rappers are becoming pic.twitter.com/LuMXgWJBFk
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) October 12, 2024
Released by surprise last week, “Port Antonio” saw J. Cole defending his decision not to go to war with Kendrick Lamar: “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, dawg, I woulda lost a bro / I woulda gained a foe.”
The Dreamville leader then referenced the salacious accusations made by both Drake and K. Dot on their respective diss songs: “Jermaine is no king if that means I gotta dig up dirt and pay the whole team / Of algorithm bot n-ggas just to sway the whole thing / On social media, competing for your favorable memes to be considered best.”
He also suggested that both rappers went too far in their feud: “I understand the thirst of being first that made ’em both swing / Protecting legacies, so lines got crossed, perhaps regrettably / My friends went to war, I walked away with all they blood on me.”
The song, which has yet to be made available on streaming services, samples Lonnie Liston Smith’s “A Garden of Peace,” made famous among rap fans thanks to Hov’s “Dead Presidents,” as well as Cleo Sol‘s “Know That You Are Loved,” which was also recently sampled by Big Sean on “Boundaries.”
