J. Cole Disses Eminem, Macklemore & Iggy Azalea On "Fire Squad"

by MITCHELL STEINFELD

The "2014 Forest Hills Drive" track "Fire Squad" sparks the controversy.

A leak of J. Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive albumincludes a track called “Fire Squad,” which calls out several White artists.

“History repeats itself and that’s just how it goes,” J. Cole raps on the track. “Same way that these rappers always bite each other’s flows/ Same thing that my nigga Elvis did with rock ‘n’ roll / Justin Timberlake, Eminem and then Macklemore.”

Later in his verse, J. Cole takes aim at the recent success of Australian rapper Iggy Azalea. 

“While silly nigga argue over who gon’ snatch the crown,” J. Cole raps. “Look around my nigga, White people have snatched the sound / This year I’ll be probably go to the awards dappered down / Watch Iggy win a Grammy as I try to crack a smile.”   

J. Cole ends the exchange by saying that he’s joking.

“I’m just playin’, but all good jokes contain true shit,” J. Cole raps. “Same rope you climb up on. They’ll hang you with.”

“Fire Squad,” track six on the leaked version of J. Cole’s album, is slated to officially be released as part of 2014 Forest Hills Drive December 9. 

The album, which is named for the address of Cole’s home, was previewed last week for fans in North Carolina. 

In the album’s final track “Note To Self,” J. Cole further elaborates on the notion of the Hip Hop crown.

“Man shout out Drizzy Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Wale,” J. Cole says. “I’m sorry I had to snatch the crown from ya’ll right quick. I had to do it to show niggas there ain’t no more fuckin’ crowns man. We gotta be the example…it’s our responsibility to show these niggas that there is love up here…you want drama, fuck that we are coming together.”

J. Cole’s previous album, Born Sinner, was released in June 2013 and was certified gold.

Cole announced that he is currently working on upcoming projects Truly Yours 4 EP and Revenge of The Dreams. Cole’s Dreamville record label is partnered with Interscope.

J. Cole described his view on realness in Hip Hop in a documentary released to accompany the album release.

“I’ve gotten to this point in my career and realized that, yeah I got a lot more dreams and I wanna go further, but at the same time, I don’t want it if it’s at the expense of my happiness,” J. Cole says in the documentary. “And I don’t want it if it’s at the expense of my sanity or if I have to become someone who’s so out of touch with what’s real: the people that love you and the people that you love. There’s a lot of people in Hollywood right now who have been there for a long time and they’ve forgotten about their small-town lives because they like this life better. But this shit ain’t real.”