J Cole Resurfaces in Unexpected Location Amid Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s Feud

Rapper J. Cole turned up in a fan’s TikTok video unexpectedly last week amid the ongoing feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. The 39-year-old sat on a secluded beach where TikTok user 2kold.fr went to clear their head. Fans were amused to see Cole looking so peaceful as his fellow musicians continue to lock horns.

The video showed a quick clip of the waves lapping up on the beach and a photo of 2kold.fr with Cole, both sitting on a dune. Cole had a laptop with him and a pair of large over-ear headphones, indicating that he might be working on something while he enjoyed the scenery. It’s unclear where they were or how crowded the area was, but only one other person could be seen in the post, standing quite a distance away. The comment section was filled with crying-laughing emojis as fans related this to the beef consuming the hip-hop world right now.

“Kendrick and Drake in the stu beefing while J. Cole just chilling on the beach,” one fan wrote. Another added: “Everybody said J. Cole chilling in paradise and they wasn’t wrong.” A third wrote: “Brother chose his peace.”

Cole arguably started this feud or at least kicked it into high gear, but he bowed out before it completely took over the headlines. Cole was featured on Drake’s song “First Person Shooter” in October of 2023, where he bragged that he is one of the “big three” rappers working right now along with Drake and Lamar. Lamar fired back in March on the Future and Metro Boomin song “Like That,” rapping: “Motherf— the big three, n—it’s just big me,” and tossing a few more jabs at Drake along the way.

Cole was the first to respond with his song “7 Minute Drill” on April 5. The entire song was a diss track aimed at Lamar, but it was mostly a good-natured bragging competition about their lyrical skills, not their personal lives. However, fans and critics still panned the song, feeling that Cole was punching above his weight class and was being tone deaf. Cole himself issued a public apology for the song two days after its release and removed it from all streaming services after five days.

By then it was too late, as Drake and Lamar began exchanging their own diss tracks. Things moved quickly from there, with Drake’s “Push Ups” and Lamar’s diss track “Euphoria” coming first. Drake responded in “Family Matters,” but Lamar answered in under an hour with “Meet the Grahams,” then followed up with “Not Like Us” that same weekend.

The latest entry is Drake’s “The Heart Part 6,” and it’s unclear if there are more tracks coming, as Drake has seemingly bowed out. Most of these songs are available now on most major streaming services – though Cole’s “7 Minute Drill” is not. It looks like the rapper is sticking to his plan to “protect his peace.”