When J. Cole titled his new mixtape Might Delete Later, fans had no idea how literal that name would end up being — or how quickly the prophesy would come to pass. Just three days passed before J. Cole declared one of the songs, “7 Minute Drill,” the “lamest sh*t I did in my f*ckin’ life.” The song, built around a halfhearted response to Kendrick Lamar’s fiery call-out on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” received a somewhat lukewarm response from the hip-hop community, who questioned the premises of many of its positions on Kendrick Lamar’s musical output along with the wisdom of J Cole chucking those particular stones from the inside of a glass mansion.
After he apologized for the song, are likely wondering whether he intends to withdraw it from streaming completely. And while that wouldn’t be completely unreasonable… it would be utterly horrible optics.
The last time J. Cole got into a simliarly sensational tiff with another rapper was in 2020, when he released “Snow On Tha Bluff” and stumbled backwards into an ill-advised beef with Noname. In that case, he was met with the concise but stern response “Song 33,” as well as disapproval from peers who called him out for distracting from more meaningful discussions at the time. Notably, although both rappers expressed regrets for the short-lived feud, both songs are still on streaming.
Should J. Cole retract “7 Minute Drill” completely when he did not do the same for “Snow On Tha Bluff,” the contrast would almost certainly call scrutiny to his questionable views toward women; some commenters have already noted that he apologized for dissing Kendrick (this after subtly and overtly inviting battle for years) but not for lyrics perceived as transphobic elsewhere on Might Delete Later. On “Pi,” he taunts a straw opponent, “I’m seeing hints of a trans fella / In cancel culture’s vicinity, he’s no killer, trust me / Beneath his chosen identity, there is still a pussy.” Fans on Twitter have rightly noted that this is just the latest example in a pattern of lyrics with demeaning views of queerness (see also: the Born Sinner intro “Villuminati,” with multiple uses of a gay slur).
So, as of now, it doesn’t look like J. Cole plans to remove “7 Minute Drill” from streaming, but there are certainly quite a few other tracks in his discograpy that could also use some pruning and apologies.