TDE rapper Reason believes J. Cole will be a bigger artist than Kendrick Lamar after his next album is released.
During a recent appearance on the New Rory & Mal podcast, the Carson native touched on the 10th anniversary of Big Sean‘s “Control,” where K. Dot famously called out Cole, Meek Mill, Drake, Big K.R.I.T., Wale, Pusha T, A$AP Rocky, Tyler, The Creator and Mac Miller in his verse.
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He then explained why he thinks J. Cole will surpass Kendrick once his new project, The Fall Off, arrives — if only until the Pulitzer Prize-winner returns with a new album of his own.
“At that time, if I’m correct and I could be wrong, I think Dot was bigger than the majority of the people he named … Drake, of course not,” Reason said.
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“I think Cole and him was around tied at that point, but you could argue he was bigger than Cole because he had good kid, m.A.A.d city. Cole didn’t have Born Sinner out yet.
“I think when The Fall Off drops, only on the strength of — ’cause TDE fans are fucking crazy — not ’cause he’s better than Dot, but just because he’s been more active. I feel like when The Fall Off drops, the fruits of his labor from being so active are gonna show.”
He added: “But they’ve done this for years, though. To me, they’ve kinda like — Dot is bigger at this point, Cole [is bigger at that point]. They’ve kinda done that for a long time.”
Kendrick Lamar released his last album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers in May 2022, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 295,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.
As for J. Cole, his most recent LP The Off-Season dropped in May 2021, and also went straight to No. 1 after earning 282,000 first-week units.
Earlier this year, Hip Hop pioneer Big Daddy Kane called J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar “true lyricists” when it comes to Hip Hop’s current generation.
“When you look at the era of the Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz and Kool Moe Dee and then you see how it evolved and became Rakim and KRS-One, and then you see how it evolved again in the era of Nas, Biggie and JAY-Z, from a lyrical standpoint, you want to see it keep evolving,” he said.
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“By the time the ’90s came around, Hip-Hop had become so commercial, that it was more important about having commercial songs and something more simplistic. A lot of the artists that came after that, their mindset wasn’t really on being lyrical, it was on writing catchy songs. That’s really where their mindset was.
“So when you see people like J. Cole, Benny The Butcher, Conway The Machine, Kendrick Lamar and Lady London, I have a special respect for that because they’re true to lyricism.”
