J. Cole raps about why he backed out of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef on new song “Port Antonio”

J. Cole reveals an actually reason why he pulled out of the Kendrick Lamar rap battle and addresses Drake on the new song “Port Antonio.”

“Protectin’ legacies, so lines got crossed, perhaps regrettably/My friends went to war, I walked away with all they blood on me,” he raps on the DZL and Cole-produced track below. “Now some will discredit me, tryna wipe away my pedigree/But please, find a ni**a out that’s rappin’ this incredibly.”

“I pulled the plug because I seen where that was ’bout to go/They wanted blood, they wanted clicks to make they pockets grow,” Cole rhymes. “They see this fire in my pen they think I’m dodging smoke/I wouldn’t have lost a battle, dawg, I would have lost a bro/And all for what?/Just to obtain some ol’ props from strangers that don’t got a clue what I been aiming fo’ since the age of 14/Jermaine is no king if that means I got to dig up dirt and pay a whole team of algorithm bot ni**as just to sway the whole thing on social media/Competing for your favorable memes.”

Cole also addresses Drake by name. “Hey Drake, you’ll always be my ni**a/I ain’t ashamed to say you did a lot fo’ me, my ni**a/F**k all the narratives/Tapping back into your magic pen is what’s imperative,” Cole instructs. Listen to the song below: