J. Cole Reveals His Wife Cried Over Kendrick Lamar Apology

BY Gabriel Bras Nevares
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J Cole Reveals Wife Cried Over Kendrick Lamar Apology
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - FEBRUARY 10: J Cole attends the Trunk Sale Atlanta After Party on February 10, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Prince Williams/WireImage/Getty Images)
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J. Cole recently spoke on his relationship with Kendrick Lamar and Drake in a new Apple Music interview with Nadeska Alexis.

J. Cole had a lot to address on his new album The Fall-Off, such as his apology to Kendrick Lamar after responding to his "Like That" disses towards Cole and Drake. During his recent interview with Nadeska Alexis for Apple Music, which came out today (Friday, Mach 20) on YouTube, he revealed his wife Melissa Heholt's thoughts on the apology at the 2024 Dreamville Fest.

As caught by us on Twitter, the Dreamville MC revealed his thought process behind the K.Dot apology, describing it as a weight being freed from him. Apparently, Heholt couldn't contain her tears when her husband let her know he wanted to reverse his disses.

"In a moment where I wasn't clear, I chose to go this way," he expressed. "I felt miserable about it. My whole demeanor, my wife can tell. I'm like, 'Oh, my God. I got to go on this stage and come out here and pretend almost.' [...] The drama of all of this is the biggest news happening, and I'm coming out as a representative of what the f**k they just heard. An hour before, it was like, 'Aha! In a very public forum on your album, you said some s**t you didn't believe in. Now you got an opportunity to go on a bigger forum and say something that you believe in.' In that moment, I'm like, 'Thank you, God.' I told my wife. She's the only one I told, I ain't tell anybody else. She started crying. 'Cause she knows how I feel about him... And she knows. She saw how it was weighing on me two, three days before that. She could see my whole energy... So when I go and do it, I felt even better."

J. Cole's Thoughts On Kendrick Lamar

Elsewhere in the interview, J. Cole spoke on Kendrick Lamar and Drake in a more direct way. "I admire these dudes, I got genuine love for these dudes," he told Nadeska Alexis during their recent Fayetteville conversation. "I hate to see the world s**t on either one of them in defense of the other. Even saying it out loud is a little silly."

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.

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