J. Cole Talks Beef Breakup With Kendrick Lamar, Praises Drake in New Song “Port Antonio”

Since the start of World War I this spring, J. Cole has quietly been doing his J. Cole things—biking around New York City, making beats on the beach, being quietly super-rich—apart from a few features that probably have were in the chamber. But it was only a matter of time before he went his own way to take a stand on the whole thing. We finally got that out of the blue tonight with “Port Antonio,” a quintessential Cole song: a moody beat, probably produced by Cole himself, sampling classic 90s rap (“Dead Presidents”), laid-back flow and exquisitely crafted, thoughtful ingots.

Cole spends the first part of “Port Antonio” reflecting on how far he has come from the harsh upbringing he often reflects on; The headline raps are reserved for the second half of the final verse and they don't disappoint. He first addresses the widespread debate that his withdrawal from the Drake-Kendrick feud has weakened his reputation, rapping that he's “grinning at n-ggas that try to smear his name” and, “You see that fire in my pen and think it's me dodging the smoke.”

From there he says what he more or less said during his infamous onstage retreat: “I wouldn't have lost a battle, dog, I would have lost a brother/I would have gained an enemy/And all for what.” ? /Just to get more support from strangers who don’t know what I wanted to accomplish?”

Cole goes on to comment disparagingly on all the minor stuff that quickly moved the argument beyond a mere fight to decide who was best, inviting mudslinging, social media pundits pushing narratives, and bots to boost popularity. And with the way it all played out, he seems even more confident in his decision to stay out of it: “Lines have been crossed, perhaps unfortunately/My friends went to war, I walked away with all their blood/Now it will.” Do anything discredit me, try to erase my family tree/But please find a n-gga who raps so incredible/My buddy texted me, I'll share the words he said to me/'If you refuse to deal with one Gun to shoot, Don 'That doesn't mean the gun isn't lethal'/I guess in this metaphor I'm hypothetically the gun/I write back to him like, 'I guess a gun isn't what I'm trying to do. '“