J. Cole and Lil Pump may have traded lyrical barbs and pointed asides on social media, but it appears that their “beef” may not be quite as deep as it seems. While being interviewed on the red carpet at the Billboard Music Awards, Pump downplayed the intergenerational friction that appeared to simmering between the two rappers.
“I don’t know what’s been going on,” he said of the potential discord between himself and his would-be foe. The Billboard interviewer asked him if there was a truce between the two, resulting in a shout-out to J. Cole from Pump and an ambivalent response. “I don’t know, man. Y’all gotta ask J. Cole what’s going on…We going through some shit. I don’t know. Nah, we good, we on good terms.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BivFSioFAkt/?taken-by=lilpump
The “beef” — such as it is — became apparent to mainstream music heads when J. Cole took a few jabs at an unnamed personality on his K.O.D. closer “1985 (Intro To The Fall-Off),” specifically referencing face tats and colorful hair. Speculation regarding the identity of his target surfaced an old song of Pump’s that had previously leaked online, bluntly titled, “F*ck J. Cole.” Pump later responded via his social media, but was more dismissive than incisive, spurning the “1985” darts as old-head grousing, determining that J. Cole has nothing to win from a battle with a rapper half his age.
The current status of the rappers’ relationship may be in doubt, but it doesn’t appear J. Cole isn’t amenable to working with Soundcloud favorites, as he announced Young Thug as his tour opener shortly after the release of K.O.D..
K.O.D. is available now from Dreamville/Roc Nation/Interscope.
