J. Cole dropped a surprise project on Thursday night (April 4), which came with a special surprise for anyone who listened to all 12 tracks. The final single, “7 Minute Drill,” finds the Dreamville Records boss firing back at Kendrick Lamar, who dissed Cole and Drake on the recent Future and Metro Boomin’ track “Like That.”
During his verse, Cole commends K. Dot on his debut album, 2011’s Section.80, and 2015’s To Pimp a Butterfly but trashes his latest effort, 2022’s Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. He also suggests good kid, m.A.A.d city didn’t deserves the accolades it received upon its release.
“Your first sh## was classic, your last sh## was tragic,” he spits. “Your 2nd s### put n###s to sleep but they gassed it/Your 3rd s### was massive hit that was your prime/I was trailing right behind, but I just now hit mine.”
In addition to the K. Dot diss, the 43-minute project features Gucci Mane, Dipset rapper Cam’ron, Ab-Soul, Central Cee and battle rapper Daylyt as well as fellow Dreamville artists Bas and Ari Lennox. Of course, Twitter (X) blew up with reactions to the album but particularly “7 Minute Drill.”
J. Cole leaving the studio after recording “7 Minute Drill” pic.twitter.com/Qfjw9w5nhM
— Simi (@simiafc) April 5, 2024
“Your first s### was classic, your last s### was tragic… your 2nd s### put n##### to sleep but they gassed it… Your 3rd s### was massive hit that was your prime… I was trailing right behind but I just now hit mine” -J Cole on 7 Minute Drill pic.twitter.com/9qG8wC6ets
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) April 5, 2024
J. COLE RESPONDED TO KENDRICK pic.twitter.com/ZUR2xIcOK4
— Joey (@gothamhiphop) April 5, 2024
Kendrick Lamar’s verse on “Like That” helped push the song to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Apple Music, Spotify US and Spotify Global. It was taken from Future and Metro Boomin’s latest collaborative effort, We Don’t Trust You, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with the highest first-week sales of 2024.
Metro Boomin’ quickly celebrated the accomplishment by sharing a screenshot of the Billboard Hot 100 chart to his Instagram with the caption, “HIP HOP IS ALIVE & WELL.” Judging by the excitement exploding all over Twitter, he just might be right.