It Might Take a Little While for J. Cole to Respond to Kendrick

While J. Cole has shown nothing but brotherly love to Drake during their time together on tour over the last few months, the Dreamville leader has remained his usual quiet in the wake of Kendrick Lamar's "Big Three" diss. Will Cole ever step into the ring himself?

Kendrick Lamar Targets Drake and J. Cole on "Like That"

It's safe to say that Kendrick Lamar targeted both Drake and Cole in his "Like That" verse, which appears on Future and Metro Boomin's We Don't Trust You album. The song arrived last Friday (March 22).

"Sneak dissin', first-person shooter, I hope they came with three switches," K-Dot raps on the track. "I crash out, like, 'F**k rap,' this Melle Mell if I had to/Got two Ts with me, I'm snatchin' chains and burnin' tattoos, it's up/Lost too many soldiers not to play it safe/If he walk around with that stick, it ain't Andre 3K/Think I won't drop the location? I still got PTSD/Muthaf**k the big three, n***a, it's just big me/N***a, bum, what? I'm really like that."

Kendrick is clearly referring to Drake and Cole's song "First Person Shooter" by name as well as the "Big Three," a turn of phrase that refers to Drake, Kendrick and Cole as being the three best rappers alive. However, while Drake has sprinkled subliminal responses both on social media and at his shows in the wake of "Like That" dropping, Cole hasn't made a peep.

J. Cole Often Stays Quiet on Social Media Even During Album Rollouts

On the one hand, J. Cole is clearly in the process of rolling out his upcoming album, The Fall Off. Cole is known for being as quiet as a mouse leading up to a new project. While Drake has opted for cryptic Instagram posts and other mentions to respond to Kendrick, Future and other foes, Cole has never snubbed someone via social media. He's instead always thrown some subliminal shade in his music, such as on the songs "Snow on tha Bluff" and "False Prophets," which many thoughts were digs aimed at Noname and Kanye West.

However, there was one feud involving Diddy that ended up extending outside the music. Reports emerged back in 2013 that Diddy and Cole had gotten into a physical scuffle at a MTV VMA Awards afterparty that year. While both parties ignored the rumors, Cole confirmed hands were thrown on his 2021 song, "l e t . g o . m y . h a n d," off his last album, The Off Season.

"My last scrap was with Puff Daddy, who would've thought it?/I bought that n***a album in seventh grade and played it so much/You would've thought my favorite rapper was Puff/Back then I ain't know s**t, now I know too much," Cole raps.

That whole debacle proved Cole isn't a complete stranger to getting his hands dirty when he needs to.

Listen to J. Cole's "l e t . g o . m y . h a n d"

Why Doesn't Cole Respond to Kendrick?

So why doesn't J. Cole just take the reigns and respond to Kendrick? "Like That" appears to be more intentionally directed at Drake, and it could be argued that Kung Fu Kenny's digs about "First Person Shooter" and the "Big Three" merely found Cole catching a stray because of his proximity to Drake. However, proximity is enough when lines are being drawn in the sand to this degree. Already it appears that Future, Metro, Rick Ross and Nav have all begun to turn against Drizzy, so it would seem Cole needs to let the fans know if his loyalty lies anywhere. But Cole is also a standalone MC, so does he really want to join in on the drama?

"I'm so f**king sick of the Khaled all-stars, and Cole with this s**t," Joe Budden said on a recent episode of his podcast, arguing that Cole should respond merely to separate himself from the pack. "Cole don't wanna do that s**t. He gotta do it ’cause it's Drake in...his stupid muscular astronaut outfits. You gotta do it!"

Either way Cole's in album rollout mode, so it's safe to say there may either be a few bars aimed at Kendrick in Cole's Might Delete Later vlogs, or better yet when The Fall Off drops. Only time will tell, but Cole always breaks his silence at some point.