J. Cole prepared fans for his upcoming album The Fall–Off by dropping the surprise freestyle EP, Birthday Blizzard '26. While many fans celebrated the release for its lyricism and hunger, Symba agrees with other listeners who feel like Cole might have slighted the Bay Area rapper on "Bronx Zoo Freestyle."
"Y'all toddlers to me, stop bothering me / Young Simba, some n***as threw some hate my way / But only thing they should say is, 'Cole, you like a father to me,'" he rapped on the cut. While on a call with the New Rory & Mal podcast, Symba made it clear that he felt like Cole directly shot at him, despite other fans not agreeing with this interpretation.
"I'm pulling up to the studio, and I think you know what I'm gon' do," he remarked, as caught by @TheEngineer4k on Twitter. Later on, the specific conversation turned to "Bronx Zoo Freestyle." "He's more of a cousin than a father, but we'll get to that pretty soon. I will say this: I took that as a sign of respect. For him to mention me, for him to take the time to address that, it's all we ask for in hip-hop... But you're not my father. My father shot at police. He don't duck smoke."
The West Coast spitter still has respect for Cole and is looking forward to The Fall–Off. He also teased Mal's frequent J. Cole critiques, and made it clear that he won't let this perceived diss go un–responded... Maybe there are multiple installments.
Symba's J. Cole Freestyle
For those unaware, Symba criticized J. Cole on the "Control Freestyle" back in April of 2024, after the Dreamville lyricist apologized to Kendrick Lamar for dissing him. "The Big 3 f***ed up, Cole gave up his spot now / Can’t say you top five if you scared to be hostile," he rapped on the cut. "I remember feeling your pain when you let Nas down / But you done let Bas down and Cozz down / You done let the squad down / Can't say you the GOAT if you ain’t popping them / We ain’t trying to hear all them apologies / Dot told you n***as that he usually homeboys with who he rhyming with / But this is hip-hop and you n***as should know what time it is."
However, the Cali talent said he didn't necessarily diss Cole on the track. Rather, this is just a critical observation of what's going on. On the other hand, fans of the North Carolina spitter have brought up his frequent The Lion King references regarding Simba all throughout his career, so maybe this isn't an intentional shot. But it was received as such, so we'll see what happens. DJ Clue already denied the idea that Cole was sending specific shots on Birthday Blizzard '26 as a whole, whether it's about Drake or about folks like Joey Bada$$.
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