Drake, J. Cole’s new music post Kendrick Lamar beef leaves fans unimpressed; ‘Boogeyman’ narrative takes over

So believes the Internet, Kendrick Lamar remains untouched, as his ultimate rivals—the other two of the ‘Big Three’—Drake and J. Cole are facing virtual smacks upon releasing seemingly ill-considered music after pulling out of the war of words that had them entangled for over a month.

A week ago, J.Cole unexpectedly joined Cash Cobain on his song ‘Grippy,’ rising above all the messy drama that blew out of control once Kendrick Lamar spat fire on his verse in Future’s ‘Like That.’ Although Cole took the exit route well before more shots were fired between the Pulitzer-winning hip-hop star and Drake, he previously gave Lamar a piece of his mind by dissing him on ‘7 Minute Drill.’ Staying true to his mixtape’s title that featured the song, Cole, in fact, deleted it later, wanting out of the messy altercation.

Drake continued to fight fire with fire as Kendrick and he landed heavy blows on each other throughout, some more personal than others. While the ‘Hotline Bling’ hitmaker’s loaded hits like ‘Push Ups’ and ‘Family Matters’ evidently maintained traction and headlines on the web, his first featured trip outside that row crash-landed a questionable drop. 

Joining hands with a relatively new Toronto-based artist, Snowd4y, Drizzy churned out ‘Wah Gwan Delilah,’ a parody of the Plain White T’s 2005 hit track. Akin to Cole’s ‘Grippy’ facing heat from fans, Drake’s latest beat also took flak.

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Reactions to Drake and J. Cole’s first music releases after emerging out of Kendrick Lamar beef

The fans’ upper lips curled in disdain, while many chose to push these releases aside on hearing the iconic rappers’ tunes. Some even went out of their way, hailing Kendrick Lamar as the “boogeyman” who supposedly scared the wits out of his rivals, resulting in these fruitless deliveries. Many stood by the motion that Lamar had conquered their minds, and the mental toll was indeed too much for Drake and Cole to carry.

Nevertheless, as armies of hip-hop fans assembled to make jokes at them, barely anyone considered that both artists might just be letting off some steam. After all, they did just get out of a major war in the diss-verse. Whatever the case, the Internet, as always, continues to craft narratives around Cole and Drake, who probably just wanted to have some fun along the way.

Given the current weather of the hip-hop world, you never know when the next peace-annihilating squabble of verses may launch again. The embers are still alive, especially with Drake removing his May 2024 post of the Kendrick Lamar diss track ‘The Heart Part 6’ from Instagram.

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Here’s what a multitude of hip-hop fans wrote on X/Twitter:

• “Grippy and Wah Gwan Delilah… If you didn’t believe the boogeyman narrative before it’s time to see reason. Leave Compton alone!”
• “The catastrophic fall off caused by Kendrick “The Boogeyman” Lamar needs to be studied.”
• “I refuse to believe Wah Gwan Delilah and Grippy are the first 2 tracks post the Kendrick beef… Ain’t no way 😭”
• “Kendrick taking j cole and drakes talent after beefing with them.”

• “Drake and J. Cole both just dropped some of the worst music of their entire careers right after losing and cowarding away from Kendrick Lamar.”
• Moreover, with Drake taking down ‘The Heart Part 6’ post off Instagram, the fire blew into a wildfire. Comments like, “He pretty much confirmed that he lost”, and “Finally realized he got cooked”, ensued.
• “Drake deleted The Heart Part 6 from his Instagram page? This is embarrassing… Kendrick Lamar is really The Boogeyman.”

• “THIS IS NOT A JOKE. THIS IS A REAL SONG. DRAKE CAME OUT OF THE KENDRICK LAMAR BEEF WITH THIS. AN ACCENTED VERSION OF HEY THERE DELILAH. I AM OVER HERE SHEDDING REAL TEARS.”