J. Cole continues to feed hip-hop culture with discourse topics amid his recent press run, whose latest stop was on the 7PM In Brooklyn podcast alongside Carmelo Anthony. During his appearance, he made a very curious revelation about Drake, their 2023 collaboration "First Person Shooter," and its connection to Kendrick Lamar.
For those unaware, the collab landed on Drizzy's For All The Dogs album. Cole had a bar on it about the trio of rappers being the "Big Three." Then, K.Dot dissed both MCs on "Like That" with Future and Metro Boomin some months later, proclaiming that "it's just big me."
The Dreamville's artist's new comments on the track reveal that the song was originally meant to be between the Toronto superstar and his Compton rival. Things didn't pan out, and now fans have more alleged info to scrutinize as their assessments of their dynamics continue to evolve.
"I'm not gon' say we were all supposed to be [on it]," J. Cole expressed regarding Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and the "First Person Shooter" track, as caught by Kurrco on Twitter. "How it came to me was, before that beat ever made it to me, I think Drake wanted that to be a him and Dot song. I think that's what it was. My interpretation is like, maybe when it wasn't moving fast enough or he wasn't getting the response he wanted, maybe he was like, 'Let me hit Cole.' 'Cause I think Boi-1da was pushing, like, 'Bro, you need to hit Cole.'
J. Cole & Drake Collabs
"I never looked at that song like it was going to be all of us," Cole continued. "I thought it was me and Drake. And I just had the beat. It was nothing on it. And I felt mad pressure. 'Cause I wanted to come through for him. He showed up at Dreamville Fest the year before that. I wanted to come through for him. I had to write that verse several times. So that's a half-truth, kind of. But there's no part of us making that song where it's like, 'Yo, Kendrick was supposed to be on here.' Nah. I just got a beat for Drake, I wanted to come through for him on his album. The clock was running, and winding down, boom. And I came through."
Apart from "First Person Shooter," J. Cole and Drake worked together on tracks like "Evil Ways," "In The Morning," and "Jodeci Freestyle." Cole and Kendrick Lamar have their "Black Friday" remixes plus cuts like "Forbidden Fruit," whereas Kendrick and The Boy haven't added to their "Poetic Justice" and "Buried Alive" history since "F**kin' Problems" with A$AP Rocky and 2 Chainz from 2013.
