After making waves with his 40-minute Eyez documentary, J. Cole has released two of the controversial tracks that won’t appear on his upcoming album 4 Your Eyez Only—”Everybody Dies” and “False Prophets.”
The latter finds Cole making thinly-veiled references to some of his peers including Kanye West, who “caught our hearts” but is now “fallin’ apart.” “When he tell us he a genius but it’s clearer lately,” raps Cole. “It’s been hard for him to look into the mirror lately / There was a time when this ni**a was my hero, maybe / That’s the reason why his fall from grace is hard to take.”
He also takes shots at Drake and his ghostwriting allegations. “When come to find out these ni**as don’t even write their shit,” he spits. “Hear some new style bubbling up, then they bite that shit.”
Additionally, Wale comes up in the second verse about a rapper who “wants to win bad” but claims “ni**as don’t fuck with him” despite his fans and major platform. “You too anxious livin’ life,” says Cole. “Always worried about the critics.”
Wale quickly issued a response with his “Groundhog Day” record, and has since been spotted courtside with Cole at a basketball game.
“Everybody Dies” also contains its share of subliminal disses, possibly aimed at Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Yachty. “I hate these rappers,” raps Cole. “Especially the amateur-eight-week rappers / Lil Whatever, just another short-bus rapper / Fake drug dealers turned tour-bus trappers.”
When asked about the potential diss, Yachty brushed it off. “It was cool,” he told Power 106. “I don’t listen to J. Cole. I definitely listened to it. It flooded my shit. It was everywhere. People said he was talking about me. I listened to it. He said Lil. I’m not little. My name has Lil in it but there’s a lot of Lil rappers. [It’s] either me or Uzi. Honestly, I don’t give a fuck.”
Both “Everybody Dies” and “False Prophets” are now available on iTunes and TIDAL, and the videos can be viewed separately outside of the Eyez documentary.
Cole’s fourth album 4 Your Eyez Only arrives Friday featuring 10 tracks including “Immortal,” “Neighbors,” and “Foldin Clothes.”