Drake released his latest studio album, ICEMAN, on May 15, 2026, and on one of the tracks from said album, Make Them Pay, the singer seemingly addressed J.Cole’s decision to back out of the 2024 beef, singing:
“You n***as run and talk to Hov for a second opinion / Me, I stood ten Ts, and accepted the mission / ‘Cause I’d much rather death than submission / How can you press the ignition unless the memories of the past affect your decision?..”
In another portion of the lyrics, Drake raps that while he loves the person due to the history between them, he could never forgive him. He also seemingly rejects the Big 3 label in the track.
Drake’s seeming addressal of J.Cole’s decision to back out of the beef in 2024 has now generated reactions on the internet, with many taking to social media to express their views on the matter.
“I’m cryn , he really wanted to 2v1 Kendrick.”
“Yea he saying some shht but it ain’t really nothing you can ride to in a clean whip with the roof open mashing the gas with loud pipes. The albums are good but they on hella chill shht.” one netizen reacted.
“It is curious why a grown man cannot handle a conflict without crying about the past. Cole chose maturity. Drake needs to learn how to f!ght his own battles instead of dragging others into his mess. Stand on your own for once. It is embarrass!ng.” another netizen stated.
“This was never Cole’s fight. Cole made the right call when he decided to take a step back and let the two deal with each other.” one commenter said.
“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall” type sh*t” another commenter said.
“Kendrick lost the fallout, haven’t seen a thought or sentence of dot without Drake being mentioned.” one reactor opined.
J. Cole has not responded to the seeming reference to him by Drake in his new album as of the writing of this article.
More on J. Cole’s role on the 2024 beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar
J. Cole participated in the 2024 beef between the rapper and Kendrick Lamar after the guest vocals by Lamar on the track Like That, where Lamar took shots on the label of Big 3, alongside taking shots at Drake and Cole.
Cole responded with the track 7 Minute Drill, on the mixtape Might Delete Later. However, the Cole subsequently publicly said that he regretted releasing the diss track and apologized for it while at the Dreamville Festival. Then the track was removed from streaming.
More recently, in his 2026 mixtape Birthday Blizzard ’26, the singer talked about how he was not part of the Big 3 anymore and he’s better for it:
“Apology dropped me way out of the top three / No problem, I’m probably my best when they doubt me.”
In other news, the rapper released three studio albums at once on May 15, 2026. Alongside ICEMAN, the Canadian rapper also released the surprise albums Maid of Honour, and Habibti. ICEMAN is his ninth album, with the two other albums being the tenth and eleventh respectively. All three albums were released via OVO Sound and Republic Records.
Edited by Soumyajyoti Mukherjee