Ye Rants ‘I Hate J. Cole’ & Claims Kendrick Lamar Fans ‘Don’t Know About Rap’
Written by djfrosty on May 1, 2025
Ye (formerly Kanye West) hasn’t let up when it comes to repeatedly taking shots at J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar. During a livestream on Wednesday (April 30), West claimed he hates Cole’s music and disparaged the Compton rapper along with Lamar’s fans.
“I hate J. Cole. It can’t even be called music. I hate J. Cole,” Ye told Toronto rapper Top5. “And it’s something about both J. Cole and Kendrick that kinda, that leaves me sorta like — it reminds me of each other and s–t like that. It’s just not that sauce to me.”
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Ye continued that if anyone in the room with him at that moment was a J. Cole fan, he didn’t want them to tell him because otherwise, he’d devalue their opinion. The embattled rapper then turned his attention back to Lamar and took shots at any fan who would list the Pulitzer-winning rapper as their GOAT.
“Anybody that say Kendrick is one of their favorite rappers, don’t know about rap, doesn’t know about real rap,” he claimed.
Billboard has reached out to J. Cole and Lamar’s reps for comment.
Cole and Kendrick have been frequent targets for Ye when he’s been lashing out at his peers during recent rants on X.
“I DON’T LIKE KENDRICK LAMARS MUSIC,” he wrote in March. “HE RAPS VERY GOOD BUT I DIDNT NEED TO HEAR HIM ON CARTI ALBUM.”
While there’s plenty of history between Cole and West, the Chicago native — who has faced widespread criticism for his repeated hate speech — claimed in early April that Cole’s music was for “virgins” and he’s “hurting hip-hop.”
“I hate J Cole music so much,” West said matter-of-factly on X. “It’s like between Kendrick and J Cole I bet you industry plants asked J Cole to diss Drake then we would have been accosted with a J Cole Super Bowl commercial with no SZA song to save it… No one listens to J Cole after loosing [sic] their virginity.”
Kanye also dissed J. Cole last year with his “Like That” remix. “Play J. Cole get the p—y dry,” he raps on the track. Cole has jabbed at West on multiple occasions in the past. He previously checked him on 2016’s “False Prophets” and 2019’s “Middle Child,” saying he feels West hasn’t lived up to the billing of his legend status.
However, following the repeated shots, Cole took the high road and showed Ye love during his set at Dreamville Fest 2025 in April, where he saluted West for clearing samples for him throughout his decorated career.
“I know n—-s feel a way about him right now, but I got love for [Ye] and I really appreciate him. He cleared all these f—ing samples for me,” he said.
On the music front, Ye is staying busy. He uploaded his lost 2022 Donda 2 album to streaming services for the first time on Tuesday night (April 29).