The Conflicted Mind of a Mortal Man
- brendan kapfer
- Apr 14, 2024
- 11 min read
J. Cole, to many rap fans including myself, is perceived to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Where he is on that list is up for debate, but it is indisputable that when you make a list of the greatest, he is on it. In the past week Cole responded to a perceived shot on a track from Kendrick Lamar and apologized for it which was controversial to say the least. Today, we discuss what Cole did, the impact of it, and how it is relevant to a song called “Mortal Man” from Kendrick Lamar.
Cole has a song titled “Rise and Shine” where there is audio of Jay Z talking about wanting to sign J. Cole because he sees how much of a talent Cole is. It is ironic because around this time Cole felt the same way about Lamar. Around the time J. Cole’s debut album, “The Sideline Story” came out, (2011) Kendrick was bursting onto the rap scene with his second mixtape, "Section 8.0”. In a now famous interview (2021) with music journalist, Narduwar, Cole was asked if he told famous producer Dr. Dre about Kendrick Lamar who would go on to sign Lamar. Although he was reluctant to answer, Cole confirmed that he let Dre know about Kendrick because he knew he could not sign the up-and-coming rapper. This move showed Cole’s motives for doing things as they are not for fame, or clout but for the love of music and people he respects.
In 2013, J. Cole got into a now notorious event with the now infamous rapper Diddy which involved Lamar. It was a minor scuffle that was blown out of proportion but might be an answer to a recent series of events that involved Cole. Diddy tried to pour a glass of wine onto Cole’s friend Lamar and the modest Cole did not take too kindly to it as he and Diddy got into an altercation. In addition to sticking up for Kendrick, he would have Lamar feature on his second studio album, Born Sinner on the song “Forbidden Fruit.” There were rumors of the two working on a collab album, but that was a hopeful wish from fans of the artists. The two artists clearly had a significant amount of respect for each other and their art even though they were competing.
There are lyrics in Kendrick Lamar’s song “Mortal Man”, that are so deep they deserve their own article. Plenty of critics, including myself, refer to it as the best rap song ever. Despite the song coming out in 2015, Lamar said things in this song that ironically apply to a recent turn of events involving him and Cole. In the chorus to the song, Lamar asks a question of the listener that is quite relatable, “When shit hits the fan is you still a fan?” The line exemplifies a fear Lamar has that people might turn and walk away when things go wrong. This is the exact predicament J. Cole has found himself in as shit has hit the fan.
Late last year, Drake and J. Cole released a song together. In doing that, Cole teamed up with somebody who has given every rapper in the game a reason to be mad at them. One of those rappers was Lamar, as the two had issues with each other for the past decade. With Cole doing a song with Drake, his bond with Kendrick would be tested. It is important to note that Cole dropped three consecutive albums without any features. He started featuring on various songs last year, to grow his brand in the lead up to his upcoming album, The Fall Off. Cole has been on quite the feature run which has led to many critics saying he currently holds the crown for best rapper in the game. The song Drake and Cole made together, First Person Shooter is easily one of the five best rap songs, but led to Lamar dissing both artists on the song. There were multiple references on the track to J. Cole being the greatest ever, but Cole mentioned Lamar as one of the three best rappers right now (using the term Big Three). Lamar was not happy, his friend Cole teamed with his enemy Drake.
Since Lamar has issues with Drake, he featured on producer Metro Boomin and Future’s recent album and threw shots at Drake and Cole. On Metro and Future’s most recent album, there were plenty more shots aimed at Drake. He said in so many words that there is no big three, it is just Lamar at the top of the rap game. Lamar dared Cole to prove why somebody should be scared to diss him, baiting Cole to respond. Lamar would go quite strongly at Drake while dissing Cole because he was on the song with Drake. It caught me by surprise that Kendrick would diss Cole given the history of their relationship. In the past week and a half, the story has taken quite a turn.
It is a possibility that Cole saw all of this as beef in a not too serious sense, just a competition between great rappers. We cannot speak as to what was in Cole’s mind but to think Cole was going to respond by going at Lamar personally would make one simply delusional. The beef between Drake and every other rapper to exist seems to be quite serious and that must have caught Cole by surprise. Cole said on “95. south”, that he stays “Out the way but if the beef do come around could put a M right on your head you Luigi brother now”, means he won’t take rap disrespect lightly but also isn’t in tune with things that do not concern him. Which leads us to “Seven Minute Drill.”
Cole would respond two weeks later with a warning track, on his latest album titled "Might Delete Later.” The title “Seven Minute Drill” is a reference to an exercise Cole does where he will write a song in seven minutes. This could be a good explanation for some of the passion-filled lyrics we heard on the now deleted track. Cole retaliated with a few shots of his own at his old friend Lamar while still somehow managing to pay homage to the great Lamar. Among the shots at his friend, Cole mentioned how he finds it interesting that Lamar mentioned Cole as soon as Cole started seeing a ton of success despite him always giving his flowers to Lamar.
Those were not the only digs Cole took at Lamar in the track though. He also said, “I got here off of bars, not no controversy,” in reference to Lamar becoming a lot more popular after diss tracks like his “Control” and “Like That” verses which were both aimed at top rappers in the industry. The most hard-hitting lines in the track are, “He averagin' one hard verse like every thirty months or somethin' If he wasn't dissin', then we wouldn't be discussin' him.” To say these lines are shots would be to put it mildly, but to say they are inaccurate would be a lie. Kendrick Lamar had not released or featured on a track two years prior to “Like That.” Lamar’s first line in his most recent album, “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers” mentioned how many days it had been since Kendrick’s last project was released. For those who do not know it was a grand total of one-thousand-eight-hundred-and-fifty-five days.
Given some of the lyrics on “Seven Minute Drill” like, “Im hesitant, I love my brother,” as fans we can tell that he was doing something he was feeling conflicted about. Cole said on the track, he “prays for peace but if (somebody) cease these positive vibes, A Falcon 9 inside my pocket, (man), this rocket gon' fly.” The most telling line in the song about where Cole’s mind was at when he made the track was when he said, “I’m crying tears before I bust at him.” Which showed how much respect he has for Kendrick, and how hard it is for Cole just to take aim at his friend without even going into a rap battle.
This brings us to this past Sunday when at Cole’s Dreamville festival he addressed the diss track aimed at Kendrick Lamar. In so many ways he said he did not feel comfortable taking shots at a friend of his. Cole goes on to say, the diss track “Is the lamest shit (he) ever did.” He mentions how given how bad he felt about dissing his friend, he had lost sleep. Cole did not want to get personal or disrespect a friend of his because that is not who he is as a person. He gave in to the pressures of the outside world which led him to a situation that sounds much like a poem in Lamar’s “Mortal Man.”
In “To Pimp a Butterfly,” there would be parts of that poem scattered across songs. Each time the listener heard the poem there would be more to it. The poem is being read by Lamar when fictionally speaking to late rapper Tupac Shakur. The first lines of the poem are “I remember you was conflicted. Misusing your influence.” In Cole’s apology, he said “I felt conflicted because I know I don’t feel no way, but the world wants to see blood.” He means he did not take Kendrick’s words to heart and was not trying to get personal in going at Lamar. Cole is also saying, even though it had been two days since the track was released, he was not using his influence in the right way and wanted to take accountability.
Cole went on to ask his fans, “How many people think Kendrick Lamar is one of the greatest (people) to ever touch a microphone?” After the crowd roared to answer yes, he said, “As do I.” Kendrick also stated in “Mortal Man” after describing him remembering Tupac had felt conflicted and misused his influence that “Sometimes (he) did the same. Abusing (his) power full of resentment, resentment that turned into a deep depression.” Lamar says that he felt resentful about how he used his power in a few situations as Cole felt that way with how he responded to Kendrick’s verse on “Like That.”
On Friday of this past week, Cole featured on Metro Boomin and Future’s new album which was a shock to many. Cole has recently been trying to grow his brand given he had three consecutive albums with no features and is working on a much-anticipated album, “The Fall Off.” It is weird given the number of shots sent at his friend Drake on the album, but given it does not involve the humble Cole, one would assume he could not care less. Cole said on “Red Leather,” “My energy was never on some toughest (guy) shit.” This bar in the song gives a sense to the mentality Cole has promoted for years, that he is a humble guy who loves what he does but doesn’t want to be involved in drama. There is no telling how old the verse is, but Metro would have needed Cole’s approval to use the verse. I believe if there was a situation where somebody Cole does not rock with disrespects him; Cole would launch a full-scale attack. Given Cole respects Kendrick, he restrains from truly going at his friend, putting his image at risk to save his friendship.
The chorus to “Mortal Man” is ironically relevant to this situation as Kendrick asked who will stay when things go wrong. Cole is now in a place where he has a choice to either continue to take the high road if Kendrick responds or to compete with Lamar without bringing the personal drama into the competition. Shit has clearly hit the fan for Cole with his fans, which begs the question Lamar asked, “If shit hits the fan is you still a fan?” Only time will tell but personally, I think the fans he loses over this situation are not loyal fans. He apologized to clarify his intentions, which is certainly a stand-up thing to do but one he will face heavy criticism for.
Kendrick Lamar asked many questions in Mortal Man but there are even more that are pertinent to this specific situation. Kendrick begged the question in the song, “What brush do you bend when dusting your shoulders from being offended?” Kendrick is asking the listener here; how do you respond when you are met with disrespect or a problem. Cole showed that he brushes his shoulder off and turns the other cheek to avoid feeling resentment towards a friend without burning a bridge. Despite that, given it is perceived as soft to avoid a battle with another rapper in the community, Cole will face heavy criticism.
Kendrick later in that same verse of that song asked another question, “What kind of bridge did they burn? Revenge on your mind when its mentioned.” My interpretation of this line is they refer to people who might have hurt you. This line ironically speaks to J. Cole’s predicament as he avoids crossing a friend which he would have every right to do so given Kendrick’s verse on “Like That.” Cole stated that was surrounded by people begging him as he said in Seven Minute Drill for a “toxic reply” after the diss to him came out. This also lends hand to yet another line in “Mortal Man.” In those lines, Kendrick asks about a bond he cherishes if “this relationship (is) fake or real as the heavens be?” Cole by coming out and apologizing on Sunday answers the question by saying this friendship is real and does not want to burn a bridge, hold a bad grudge, or have revenge on his mind.
Cole did contradict himself by apologizing to Kendrick but not in a bad way. In many songs, Cole has stated that he is not somebody who another rapper would want to disrespect because Cole can match their energy and then some. Many have argued that Cole is a hypocrite because he is avoiding a battle with Kendrick Lamar. At the end of Lamar’s poem, he stated “If I respect you, we unify and stop the enemy from killing us.” In Cole showing respect for Kendrick, he tried to unite the two fan bases which were becoming divided as Cole wants to uplift the rap community as does Kendrick.
Both rappers are prominent figures in the rap community, but also the Black community as they have both released projects which have shined a light on problems minorities in troubled communities face. Lamar touched on issues in the Black community with “To Pimp a Butterfly” which won a Pulitzer Prize and Cole on “4 Your Eyez Only.” Both have been robbed for Grammys as they have also touched on social issues in their respective albums, Good Kid MAAD City (Kendrick) and Forest Hills Drive (Cole). These rappers’ influence on not just rap but on fans of rap music should never be lost on us. Neither artist is a stranger to controversy, but even a lyrical war between the two MCs could be detrimental to the rap community. That is because both rappers have contributed so much to modern society as people with their works of art.
I will leave you with these last two lines from these renowned artists. In Cole’s “Middle Child”, he said, “They act like two legends cannot coexist” and that he would only destroy a rapper lyrically if there was a legit reason. In this instance they are referring to the media and society. With these two great rappers being united, even if they do not make any more music together, they will each be remembered for the impact they had on their fans. People will remember how they coexisted instead of opposing each other as both saw incredible success at the same time.
In Lamar’s “Mortal Man” he asked, “How many leaders you said you needed then left them for dead?” This is in response to so many figures in this world who were going to make a change in this world or did make a change who died or had their legacy tarnished. These two leaders have impacted this world in a positive way. Kendrick has yet to respond to Cole’s apology but if he responds in a positive way, it will do wonders for the rap community. With so many rappers having passed away in recent years, it is good to see a rapper choose peace when the world requests violence even if it’s verbal. By uniting together, they prevent the enemy (society) from harming their legacy, but more importantly, the community their music has built that has inspired so many young people.
Side Note: Stay tuned for more music articles. I have an upcoming series covering different music pieces that I will introduce shortly. Mortal Man is my favorite rap song of all time and I will give a more in depth analysis later on in the month. I want to thank my friends Jean and Michel for their advice and the continued expertise they share to me on works of art. They inspire me to listen to better music and try new things with this writing journey I am on. I want to say thank you to everyone who reads my articles and supports what I do. None of this would be possible without you.
Comments