Drake was apparently supposed to perform at the same Dreamville Fest where J. Cole issued an apology to Kendrick Lamar after dissing him on record.
According to Cole, who sat down with the 7pm In Brooklyn crew for a new interview that premiered on Friday (March 27), the rumor that Drizzy was planning to pop out at Dreamville Fest 2024 was true. You can check it out at around the 1 hour and twenty minute mark below.
"He was supposed to be at Dreamville Fest. That was planned. He didn't come," Cole explained, adding that he was actually glad Drake didn't turn up. The reason, he continued, was that he would have felt pressure to keep firing at Kendrick — which is something he didn’t want to do.
"I appreciate him for [not turning up]," Cole continued. "He's like, 'I didn't want to come down and put you in a situation on that stage and say something that you would have to stand behind.' And I'm like, 'Thank God that you didn't, because it left the space for me to receive what I was supposed to do.'"
What he was “supposed to do” was apologize to Kendrick on stage at Dreamville Fest, a plan that he told Apple Music in a recent interview hit him an hour before performing.
"Before that, I was stressing the fuck out. Then the moment for the idea came to me like a guide, and I lifted, and I got light, and I got excited. I got so excited because three or four days before that it was like, 'Oh my, nah, this is terrible.' Because I felt like I misrepresented myself."
Cole added in his chat with Carmelo Anthony and the rest of the 7pm In Brooklyn team that he was also trying to get K. Dot to appear at the same Dreamville Fest as Drake.
"I was trying to get Kendrick to come, too," he said. "It's crazy because when we was on tour, I'm like, 'It'd be crazy if both of y'all came out for Dreamville Fest.' It's silly now to say, you know what I mean? It's like, nah. There were other plans."
Cole was also asked about the reports that "First Person Shooter" — the song that seemed to first expose the rift between all three rappers — was originally supposed to feature Kendrick Lamar.
"I'm not gonna say we were all supposed to be [on it]," he said. "[But] before that beat ever made it to me, I think Drake wanted that to be a him and Dot song."
Cole believes that Kendrick wasn't moving quick enough, so Drake decided to reach out to him instead.
"I think [“First Person Shooter” co-producer] Boi-1da was pushing like, 'Bro, you need to hit Cole.' … So I never looked at that song like it was going to be all of us."
