J. Cole Says His Wife Cried Over Kendrick Apology, Social Media Reacts

One of the biggest WTF moments —and there were a lot of them— in the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef was J. Cole gracefully bowing out, and now more than a year later, he’s finally addressing it.

The North Carolina rapper infamously took the stage at Dreamville Fest 2024 and apologized for dissing Kendrick Lamar on his “7 Minute Drill” track, from the aptly titled mixtape Might Delete Later.

In a conversation with Apple Music’s Nadeska Alexis, he explained his internal battle at the time and how it all came together just before his headlining set.

“It hit me an hour before,” Cole said. “Before that, I was stressing the f-ck out. Then the moment for the idea came to me like a guide, and I lifted, and I got light, and I got excited. I got so excited because to tell you, three or four days before that it was like, ‘Oh my, nah, this is terrible.’ Because I felt like I misrepresented myself.”

He felt horrible perpetuating “negative storylines or negative perceptions on somebody that I f-ck with and got love for.”

Cole compared it to the time he wore a Versace sweater at the BET Awards, which, unbeknownst to him, matched several other celebs; it was an attempt to fit in, but it didn’t align with his authenticity.

His line of thought was “on a very public forum on your album, you said some sh-t you didn’t believe in. Now you got the opportunity to go on a bigger forum, you know what I mean? A bigger stage is being livestreamed and say something that you believe in.”

The only person who was aware of his mea culpa was his wife, who he said cried because “she saw how it was weighing on me the two, three days before that,” he admitted. “She could see in my whole energy. And she would even ask me, and I’m just like, ‘Yeah, I got a lot going on right now.'”

For those who think he’s got any lingering beef with Drake or Kendrick, Cole ends that narrative, saying “I got genuine love for these dudes” calling it “silly” and he hates “to see the world shit on either one of them in defense of the other.”

Cole does admit he understands why some were disappointed in him bowing out, even referencing a friend who applauded him for being a “good dude” but lowkey looked disgusted because he wished his competitive spirit and ego had kept him in the battle. 

See social media’s reaction to Cole explaining his reason for sidestepping the beef below.