The civil war between Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, and Drake is ramping up now following Cole's "7 Minute Drill" response to the former TDE MC's disses. However, while this whole situation has folks remembering Kendrick's callout of other rappers on Big Sean's "Control" a decade ago, not enough people are remembering how these lyricists responded to him back then. At least, that's what Joey Badass thinks, as he took to Twitter on Friday (April 5) after the Dreamville boss' diss dropped with a simple message: "Never Forget," and a link to his "Killuminati Pt. 2" song's lyrics. On this song, he responded to Kendrick's "Control" shots with a lot of hunger, aggression, and boastfulness.
"No escaping, you in a swimming pool of champagne," Joey Bada$$ rapped against Kendrick Lamar on the Knwledge-produced track about 11 years ago. "You set yourself up for that one, mane / The King of New York? Ha! We ain’t just gon’ let that one hang." This seemed to be a direct address when it comes to J. Cole and Drake beefing with Kendrick right now, and in particular how folks are only keeping this debate to "The Big Three." As such, it seems like the New York spitter is opening it up to the entire rap game, and to names like his who fans might be overlooking right now in the face of "Like That" and "7 Minute Drill."
Of course, Joey Bada$$ and Kendrick Lamar have shown each other a lot of respect and love over the years despite this competitive attitude. Still, this is pretty interesting since Kendrick never explicitly named Joey in his "Control" verse, yet naming himself the King of New York clearly and rightfully struck a nerve with the Pro Era boss. For now, at least, it seems like the general hip-hop community will keep this beef to "The Big Three," but there's still plenty of room to debate whether folks like Joey should replace one of them in conversations. Might this be a prelude to him making this a full-on lyrical attack, throwing his hat into the ring?
That seems unlikely, but it would certainly be pretty incendiary. As more reactions to "7 Minute Drill" pour in, folks will likely continue to bring up other rappers in this debate. But let's not act like this is the culmination of 11 years of silence; MCs have been challenging K.Dot for the throne for a while. For more news and the latest updates on Joey Bada$$, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole, stay posted on HNHH.
