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J. Cole is opening up about one of the most debated moments of his career on “Bronx Zoo Freestyle” from Birthday Blizzard ’26. On the track, the rapper reflects on his public apology to Kendrick Lamar and how it reshaped his standing in hip hop’s so called Big 3.
Cole suggests the decision temporarily pushed him out of elite conversations, while also fueling a renewed hunger to rebuild from the ground up.
“I used to be top seed, the apology dropped me way out of the top 3/ No problem, I’m probably my best when they doubt me”
He continues by reframing the moment as a necessary reset rather than a setback.
“The top ain’t really what I thought it would be/And so I jumped off and landed back at the bottom and restarted at a level where I wasn’t regarded as much/Just to climb past ’em again and tell ’em all to keep up”
You can hear the track below.