Ice Cube is shouting out J. Cole for mentioning his Big3 basketball league in the North Carolina rapper's verse on Drake's new album For All The Dogs.
On For All the Dogs' sixth track "First Person Shooter"—which serves as J. Cole and Drake's first collaboration since 2013's "Jodeci Freestyle"—Cole calls himself, Drizzy, and Kendrick the "Big 3" of their generation, while also referencing Cube's 3-on-3 basketball league.
"Still in this bitch gettin' bigger, they waitin’ on the kid to come drop like a father to be/Love when they argue the hardest MC/Is it K-Dot, is it Aubrey, or me?/We the big three like we started a league/But right now, I feel like Muhammed Ali," Cole raps on the second verse.
After listening to "First Person Shooter," Ice Cube hopped on Twitter to thank Cole for the nod.
“Shoutout to @JColeNC for mentioning @thebig3 on his new song with @Drake called “First Person Shooter”. Thanks for the love,” he wrote.
Back in June, Cube appeared on Joe Rogan's podcast, where he called out the NBA for trying to squash the Big3, which he founded in 2017. The legendary rapper accused the "gatekeepers" of attempting to boycott the league, while also affecting its business, from expansion to sponsorships.
“I’m not trying to compete in any way, shape, or form with the NBA. We are very complementary,” Cube told Rogan. “So, I don’t understand why they would do some of the things that’s being done behind the scenes. Encouraging people to not sponsor us, encouraging networks not to play us.”
Cube continued by maintaining he plans to fight back against the NBA in order for the Big3 to sustain its growing popularity.
“We’ve been able to survive but at a certain point it’s just redundant and ridiculous,” he shared. “We got to fight back in some way, shape or form.”
For more on the waves Drake's eighth album has created, head here. Complex also has a roundup of our first impressions here.
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