J. Cole has spoken about his feelings for Drake and Kendrick Lamar, while also explaining how his public apology to K. Dot came about.
In a video shared on Friday (March 19), Cole sat down with Apple Music's Nadeska Alexis for his first interview since dropping new album, The Fall-Off. The chat took place inside the rapper's childhood home at 2014 Forest Hills Drive in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
During the conversation, Cole touched on the Drizzy and Kendrick beef, as well as taking himself out of the feud by apologizing to Kendrick on stage at Dreamville Fest before removing his "7 Minute Drill" K. Dot diss from his Might Delete Later project.
"It hit me an hour before [hitting the stage]," Cole said of his public apology. "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 to tell you, three or four days before that it was like, 'Oh my, nah, this is terrible.' Because I felt like I misrepresented myself. You know what I mean?"
The "MIDDLE CHILD" rapper then explained how he didn't want to give life to "division" or "negative storylines or negative perceptions on somebody that I fuck with and got love for," referring to Kendrick Lamar.
Recalling "feeling terrible," Cole compared his decision to go at K. Dot to him putting on a Versace sweater, which is something he apparently isn't a fan of and believes doesn't represent his character or personality.
"I felt miserable about it," he continued. "So I'm like, 'Oh my God, I gotta go on this stage and come out here and pretend almost. Like, people think that I'm representing that.' Might Delete Later had just dropped…the drama of all of this is the biggest news happening, and I'm coming out as a representative of what the fuck they just heard.
"So an hour before it was like, 'Oh, aha. Like, yo, in a very loud manner, you know, on a very public forum on your album, you said some shit you didn't believe in. Now you got the opportunity to go on a bigger forum, you know what I mean? A bigger stage is being livestreamed and say something that you believe in.' And in that moment, I'm like, 'Oh, thank you, God.'"
Realizing that Dreamville Fest’s main stage was the perfect place for him to apologize to K. Dot, he said he told his wife what he was going to and then she started crying.
"She start crying because she know how I feel about him. You know what I mean? Like she knows, and she saw how it was weighing on me the two, three days before that," he admitted. "She could see in my whole energy. And she would even ask me, and I'm just like, 'Yeah, I got a lot going on right now.'"
Explaining that he felt amazing after getting on stage and getting rid of the burden he was carrying around "because now the world knows how I really actually feel," he added: "I felt even better than I felt knowing I was gonna do it. I felt like… [exhales]. If you would've seen me that night, maaaan!"
Elsewhere in the interview, J. Cole was asked whether he still thinks about the 'Big Three' fallout and what the status of his relationship with both Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
"First of all, those is dudes that — I admire these dudes," he explained. "I got genuine love for these dudes. Like, I hate to see the world shit on either one of them in defense of the other…That shit is, even saying it out loud is a little silly."
Last week, J. Cole offered fans an indication of what’s to come next following the completion of his "Trunk Sale Tour."
In a blog post shared on his Inevitable website, the 41-year-old North Carolina rapper reflected on having just wrapped up his back-to-basics tour, which saw him selling copies of The Fall-Off from the back of his car.
"I was exhausted after leaving LA on that last stop, it had me thinking about this tour coming up… 6 months long!!," he wrote. "Sheeeeeeeeesh!! I’m excited though. We haven’t done an international run since 4 Your Eyez Only. Fatherhood made me not want to be away from the house for that long of a time, but for this album it’s a must that I thug it and hit the world up."
Cole is scheduled to support The Fall-Off with a world tour kicking off in July. The 73-date run of shows will conclude in December, and includes stops across North America, Europa, Australia, and South Africa. In the post, he wrote that he wanted to check in with fans and thank them for their support on the latest record, which he has also indicated could be his last.
