J. Cole on the microphone, close upINFphoto.com
By
Sarah Polonsky
Published 20 minutes ago
Senior Music Editor at Screen Rant, Sarah's love of sound and story drive the beat. A globetrotting brand whisperer and award-winning journalist, she’s built cross-cultural narratives around the world—but music has always been her true north. She launched DJ Mag North America, successfully introducing the iconic UK brand to the U.S. market. Previously, she carved a space for EDM inside the pages of VIBE, blending electronic and hip-hop culture long before it was trendy.
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When J. Cole dropped “7 Minute Drill” on April 5 of last year as part of his surprise mixtape Might Delete Later, it landed like the first real flare in the Kendrick Lamar–Drake–Cole triangle. Kendrick had just shaken the entire industry with his verse on “Like That,” a scorched-earth dismissal of the so-called “Big Three” where he took direct aim at Cole’s catalog and legacy. Cole’s response was immediate, sharp and calculated. And then, shockingly, he took it back.
Looking at the rap landscape today, the track’s arrival—and its disappearance days later—feels less like hesitation and more like foresight. Arguments claiming he punked out or never stepped up to the plate out of fear are nothing more than internet gossip fodder. (Hater's gonna' hate). The truth? He recognized the fight had changed.
Rap has always thrived on conflict, but 2025’s version of a rap beef is something else entirely. Fanbases weaponize algorithms. AI deepfake verses circulate faster than official releases. Entire reputations rise and fall in the space of a 40-second clip. A diss track isn’t the end of a conversation anymore. It’s the trigger for a month-long content machine. And Cole, a veteran of the era when bars still mattered more than metrics, stepped away just as the ecosystem hit its breaking point.
A Diss That Predicted the Climate We’re In Now
The moment “7 Minute Drill” dropped, the internet did what the internet does. It spiraled. There were reaction videos, thinkpieces, bar breakdowns, and endless side-by-side comparisons. But the bigger story wasn’t the song. It was Cole’s reaction to the reaction.
He performed the track live at Dreamville Festival, then stood in front of tens of thousands of fans and apologized—calling the song “the lamest s***” he’d ever done. Two days later, he pulled it from streaming entirely.
Cole saw what the streaming and social media era had become: a place where a diss track doesn’t end at the bar. It spreads into AI remixes, TikTok debates, YouTube essays, Reddit threads and endless edits that distort the original intention until the artist loses control of the narrative. What used to be lyrical currency has turned into wildfire. Once it burns, it's impossible to put it out.
His apology may have sounded like weakness, but only to the weak-minded. Apologizing takes strength of character, and in Cole's case, showed insight. He opted out of a machine designed to chew up artists and feed the content loop. And judging by how every rap moment now lasts three times longer than the music itself, he looks more prophetic than reactionary.
Why ‘7 Minute Drill’ Hits Differently in 2025
Look at the rap climate right now. Drake is still stuck in a perpetual cycle of subliminals. Kendrick can disappear for half a year and still dominate discourse the second someone utters his name. Rising artists are using disses as marketing strategies. AI-generated vocals have blurred the line between real shots and synthetic ones. The entire playing field is unstable.
In the middle of it all, Cole was the only one who asked the question everyone else avoided: is this still worth it?
While “7 Minute Drill” started as a response to Kendrick’s dismissal of the “Big Three,” it was also a stress test. It was a way for Cole to measure how hostile and high-stakes the environment had become. He dropped the match, watched the flames rise and stepped away before anyone realized what the fire represented. And the thing is, he didn’t step away as someone fading. He stepped away from a position of power.
Cole sold out Madison Square Garden last December for the 10-year anniversary of Forest Hills Drive, reinforcing that his fanbase is not only loyal, but enormous. His draw rivals nearly anyone in rap right now. He never did, never will, need a beef to make his mark.
His decision to pull a charting diss track looked odd at the moment, sure, but in 2025, it reads like strategy. “7 Minute Drill” makes more sense now because it marks the exact moment a major artist realized he didn’t have to let the internet turn him into content. He refused to be consumed.
This year has seen a lot of rap beefs (and pop beefs) getting messier with higher velocities, making them more punishing than ever. New artists should look to J. Cole’s choice to stay out of the negative vibe and get back to focusing on what matters most: the music.
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