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Rb Hip Hop

J. Cole Breaks His Silence on Drake and Kendrick Lamar Feud in New Song, 'Port Antonio'

"My friends went to war, I walked away with all their blood on me," he raps. Drake reportedly liked Cole's initial Instagram post dropping the track, which references him by name.

J. Cole photographed on Aug. 16, 2018 at The Silo in Houston for a Billboard cover shoot.

J. Cole photographed on Aug. 16, 2018 at The Silo in Houston for a Billboard cover shoot.

Wesley Mann

J. Cole was a key player in the beginning stages of the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef, but dropped out early after removing his Kendrick diss track '7 Minute Drill' from streaming services.

Now, J. Cole has broken his silence over the feud in his new song "Port Antonio," which he dropped last night (Oct. 9).


Cole, who was referenced as one of the "Big Three" rappers along with Drake and Kendrick in the verse that reignited the beef, tells the whole story of the feud from his perspective over five dense minutes.

While the war of words intensified, many memes depicted Cole as the peaceful one, sipping drinks on a beach while his peers tore each other apart.

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On "Port Antonio," he addresses that conception head-on: "I pulled the plug because I've seen where this 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."

But he didn't come away unscathed, he notes: "My friends went to war, I walked away with all they blood on me."

He pushes back against the conception that he was ever picking sides, but shows direct support to Drake. "Drake, you'll always be my n—a / I ain't ashamed to say you did a lot for me," he raps.

Drake took notice, liking J. Cole's Instagram post dropping the track.

Cole uses a friend's metaphor to compare his lyrics to a gun, but says a gun isn't what he wants to be. The beef, and its winners and losers, are inconsequential to their overall purpose as artists, he raps — "not for beefing" but for "speakin' our thoughts, pushin' ourselves, reachin' the charts," and connecting with people on an emotional and intellectual level.

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Listen to "Port Antonio" below:

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Tia Wood
Courtesy Photo
Tia Wood
Chart Beat

Tia Wood Hits New Heights With 'Sky High' on the Billboard Canadian All-Format Airplay Chart

Homegrown acts are making debuts on the Canadian Airplay charts, with Valley, Pelch, Mae Martin and Tebey all hitting the charts.

Singer Tia Wood has notched a new entry on the Canada All-Format radio airplay chart this week.

On the chart dated February 22, the singer, who hails from Saddle Lake Cree Nation on Treaty 6 territory, arrives with "Sky High" at No. 47. The cool R&B track is a showcase for Wood's sultry vocal, which impressed the crowd at Billboard Canada Women in Music last fall.

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