Earlier in the week, J. Cole shared his reasoning for dropping out of Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s high-profile beef on “Port Antonio.” Many listeners felt the record arrived way too late, considering the feud fizzled out in July, Joe Budden included.
On Saturday (Oct. 12), the “Pump It Up” rapper and his podcast co-hosts shared their thoughts in a heated debate. Regarding Cole’s “They strip me of my spot, and now I'm finally free” line, Budden said, “What do you mean you’re finally free? That dismisses all accountability from the part that he has played in the ‘big three’ debacle. What do you mean you’re finally free as if you never wanted parts of the ‘big three’ conversation. That is a whole load of crap.”
“Go sit your a** over there with Sunshine Anderson and the rest of the people that changed their mind. Don’t pop back up and say, ‘If I would’ve, I could’ve, but then I would’ve lost [a friend],’” the rapper-turned-podcaster continued. “I hate this soft Hip Hop s**t. It’s soft, call it what it is. These Hip Hop n**gas is feeling like h**s out here.”
Budden’s comments contrasted the previous praise he gave the North Carolina emcee for his recent feature run. Within the last few months, Cole notably collaborated with Tee Grizzley on “Blow For Blow,” Tems on “Free Fall” and ASAP Rocky on “Ruby Rosary.”
“I respect it more as time goes on. Way to keep yourself out of [the] mess,” Budden stated at the top of October. “I think he got out of character for a second, and he had some behind-the-scenes phone calls and got right back in his bag.”
As for “Port Antonio,” Cole shrugged off the haters and expressed his gratitude to Drake. It’s worth mentioning that the Canadian star helped him go No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart for the first time with 2023’s “First Person Shooter.”