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J Cole

“Choose a side,” METRO BOOMIN warned us before he and Future dropped “We Don’t Trust You.”

And as J. Cole has learned over the past 12 hours, anyone who doesn't stand firmly on one side of the divide between Drake and Kendrick Lamar is vulnerable to being caught in the crossfire. Last night, he dropped “I Might Delete This Later,” a surprise EP of songs that might have been lauded as another strong showing from the rap vet — or maybe the conversation around his troubling (and vulgar) transphobic bars on “Pi” would be. . But instead, the rap world is abuzz with "7 Minute Drill," a song from the project in which Cole responds to Future's now-famous Kendrick verse and Metro Boomin's "Like That." The streets are talking, but Cole may not like what they're saying.

Cole didn't spend the entire song on Kendrick but did deliver what he considered a "warning shot" at his former friend. He used Jay-Z's "grabbing" tactic, summing up Kendrick's catalog: "Your first shit was classic, your last shit was tragic / Your second shit put niggas to sleep, but they farted on it / Your third shit was huge and that was your shit." Prime/I was trailing right behind and it just hit me. Cole also criticized Kendrick's sparse release schedule: "He's averaging one hard verse like every thirty months or something / If it ain't a diss, we ain't discussing it." But then he backed away from the vitriol, also saying, “Don't make me have to smoke this nigga 'cause I'm fucking him,” and on the second beat of the track, which was produced by T-Minus and Conductor Williams, he admitted, “I'm hesitant, I love my brother, but I ain't gonna lie/ I'm really strong, this shit would look like he's swatting a fly.If this was a Friday 106 & Park Freestyle contest, I'd imagine the judge asking Cole if he's actually fighting or not.

Cole's reference to Jay-Z's removal of "Takeover" from Nas' discography ignores the fact that Jay-Z's 2001 assertion that Nas had "one hot album every decade on average" was also false — Nas' follow-up Illmatic It Was Written is an agreed-upon classic. Ditto Kendrick's To Pimp A Butterfly, which a prominent segment of rap fans consider to be the best album of the 2000s. But “winning” the battle means changing public perception, which means manipulating public talking points you may not even believe. For some artists, it might make sense to attack Kendrick for the same things his critics have already attacked him for. But for Cole, this same complaint arguably applied more to him. Cole says that To Pimp A Butterfly "put niggas to sleep," but "J. Cole is boring." The emotions were so high that he fought them his entire career. He defended himself in 2013 by saying that "people who like Soul Plane probably think 'Soul Plane' "Shawshank Redemption is boring."

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J. Cole has a history of passive-aggressively referring to other artists in ways that he could later dismiss as constructive criticism if pressed. It also gets close enough to the proverbial line to make headlines and prompt listeners to wonder if it's targeting specific people. He did it with Jay-Z on “Rich Niggas,” Kanye West and Wale on “False Prophets,” and Noname on “Snow on Tha Bluff.” The latter tack was the most counterproductive, as it amounted to inappropriate finger-wagging at Nonam's blatant extremism (which struck at an inopportune time after the tragic death of activist Oluwatoyin Salau). One must keep this history in mind when listening to "7 Minute Drill". It's clearly a foul, and Cole's foot is on the line, but he doesn't get down ten toes. The song's title refers to a seven-minute military drill, during which officials discuss how to respond to an enemy threat. But it should also be understood that one does not respond to one warning shot with another warning shot; It's time to fight at this point.

The video shows Cole in a precarious situation, stuck between two friends. He's been on tour with Drake, and they compliment each other at any point they find themselves in together. Although Cole hasn't collaborated or appeared in public with Kendrick in years, he admitted on "7 Minute Drill" that "I love my brother." Before Future and Metro Boomin's "Like That," there were few people who would have turned heads had Cole gone on tour with Drake and then Kendrick performed at Dreamville. But times are different. The battle lines have been drawn, and fans want to see the 'Big Three' swing in a big way.

Even Drake, who pulled his verse from BFB Packman's album last week, realizes fans want to hear him go crazy the next time he sings a song. Cole may have thought he was doing the sensible thing by being measured on "7 Minute Drill," but rapping is a toxic, irrational arena. Rap fans want to hear artists go all the way, and not be overly conscientious and almost respectful on the battlefield. If the phrase “7-minute drill” was in fact a reference to military deliberations, perhaps the leadership should have decided to step down and not say anything at all.

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