Joey Bada$$ recently theorized that J. Cole decided against giving JID a feature on The Fall-Off because he was scared of being outperformed on his own record. He explained his idea during a rant on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday night, in which he discussed Jay-Z's recent interview with Frazier Tharpe for GQ. During that interview, Jay took issue with the current culture surrounding rap battles.
"Think about it, if somebody at the 'top' gave somebody coming up an opportunity to come after them on a record, you know what would happen?! LOL N****S IS EATING THEY FOOD! OFF TOP. RENT IS DUE, BILLS PAID EXPEDITIOUSLY," Joey wrote in one post.
From there, he brought up J. Cole as an example. "Public perception of who’s the best would be drastically different if this were a regular occurrence. This is exactly why you didn’t see JID on The Fall Off. He would’ve OVERSTOOD the assignment. To me personally, it made no sense he wasn’t on there but hey maybe that’s just me. Btw I loved the album but let’s be fr," he added.
Did Joey Bada$$ Diss J. Cole?
As some fans on social media interpreted the post as a jab at J. Cole, Joey clarified that he is a big fan of the rapper. "This is not just about J Cole this is about lyrical rap as a subgenre period," he clarified. "My sentiment is that there’s a scarcity mindset in the subgenre and usually the top guys don’t invite other hungry spitters onto their own tracks."
"Let me give Cole his flowers real quick just to be clear because i loved the album and Ive always loved him as an emcee (and person)," Joey added. "But I stand on what I’m saying. The evidence is there. There’s a difference between doing features for n****s and featuring n****s on your own work. And for the record, if n****s wholeheartedly thought JID didn’t fit on TFO, that’s your opinion. But he’s also not featured on any other j Cole album."
He continued: "Didn’t J Cole just say 'if hip hop was dead JID would be platinum?' (On a throwaway mixtape btw) But then not feature him at all on the mixtape or the album when either or would’ve made sense. All I’m saying is notice the trend in this specific sub genre."
