In the early days of his Dreamville label, J. Cole wanted to sign Kendrick Lamar to the imprint.
During episode 8 of his “Inevitable” audio series, Cole shared his intentions to make Lamarflagthe ship artist of the label.
“The only person I felt I wanted to sign to Dreamville was Kendrick Lamar. There was a time period I seen him and he sent me music, Cole said. “I was like, ‘Damn, this is somebody who I’d sign as a Dreamville artist.’”
“For the first time, I had found someone that loved this sh*t as much as I loved it… [He] took it as serious, had similar taste… It felt like your cousin coming over to the house,” Cole added.
Signed Top Dawg Entertainment at the time, K-Dot was well on his way to becoming a legend.
“But he already had his situation, and that wasn’t happening,” Cole concluded.
So much has changed between the two heavyweight rap titans since the Blog era days. In March, Kendrick aimed Cole and Drake on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That.” The Compton MC responded to Cole describing himself, Lamar, and Cole as rap’s “Big 3.”
In response, Cole would drop “7 Minute Freestyle” where he threw direct shots at Lamar.
Having a change of heart, Colo apologized to Lamar at Dreamville Festival for releasing the song.
“Man, that’s the lamest shit I ever did. In my f**king life’ right?” Cole explained. “And, I know, this is not what a lot of people want to hear… I can hear my n***as up there right now like… ‘Nahhh, don’t do that.’ But, I gotta keep it 100 with y’all. I damn near had a relapse, right?
“I felt conflicted ’cause I’m like, bruh I know I don’t really feel a way. But the world wanna see blood,” he continued. “So I say all of that to say, in my spirit of trying to get this music out. I moved in a way that spiritually feels bad on me and I tried to jab my n***a back. I tried to keep it friendly. But at the end of the day, when I listen to it and when it comes out and I see the talk, that sh*t don’t sit right with my spirit.”
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