J. Cole revisits his apology to Kendrick Lamar on new ‘Birthday Blizzard ’26’ freestyle

J. Cole is clearing the air — again. Hours before his 41st birthday, on Wednesday, the rapper released a surprise EP titled Birthday Blizzard ‘26. Included on the five-track release is the “Bronx Zoo Freestyle,” on which Cole reflects on his status in hip-hop and rehashes his apology to Kendrick Lamar.

On “Bronx Zoo Freestyle,” Cole very matter-of-factly refers to himself as being the former “top seed” in mainstream rap before his 2024 apology to Lamar dropped him “out of the top three,” the top three being himself, Lamar and Drake.

“The top ain’t really what I thought it would be/And so I jumped off and landed back at the bottom,” Cole raps, before adding, “I used to be top seed/Apology dropped me way out of the top three/No problem, I’m probably my best when they doubt me.”

Before Lamar became embroiled in his ongoing feud with Drake, he was briefly at odds with Cole. Cole and Lamar’s feud was reportedly ignited after Cole collaborated with Drake on the 2023 track “First Person Shooter,” on which they claimed to make up the “big three” in rap alongside Lamar. Their collaboration prompted Lamar to respond, “big three… it’s just big me,” on “Like That,” his 2024 track with Future and Metro Boomin.

Cole then retaliated by going after Lamar on his 2024 diss track “7 Minute Drill,” the closing track of his mixtape Might Delete Later. On “7 Minute Drill,” Cole criticizes Lamar’s album output, slams his “tragic” discography, mocks his height and calls his relevance in hip-hop into question.

But the 4 Your Eyez Only rapper quickly walked back his remarks. Two days after releasing “7 Minute Drill,” Cole issued a lengthy apology to Lamar during his Dreamville Festival in North Carolina. Addressing his crowd of fans, Cole retracted the diss track, calling it the “lamest, goofiest s***” he’s ever released. The track was removed from streaming services soon after.

“Y’all love Kendrick Lamar, correct? As do I,” Cole said, before apologizing for the shots he took against the “Not Like Us” rapper. “So I just wanna come up here and publicly be like bruh, that was the lamest goofiest s***, and I say all that to say it made me feel like 10 years ago when I was moving incorrectly, and I pray that God will line me back up on my purpose and my path.”

Cole added that while he hopes Lamar took no offense to the “misstep” of a track, he understands if the “Luther” rapper feels the need to retaliate.

“I got my chin out, take your best shot. I’ma take that s*** on the chin, boy,” Cole said. “It’s love. … I ain’t gonna lie to y’all, the past two days felt terrible.”

The impromptu release of Birthday Blizzard ‘26 comes just over a week before Cole debuts his seventh studio album, The Fall Off, on Feb. 6. Marking Cole’s first full-length album in five years, news of the upcoming release of The Fall Off was unveiled in a trailer on Jan. 14, in which Cole is seen washing a car and eating at a diner solo. Before the video ends, the album’s title appears as a track, presumably from the album, plays.

That same day, Cole released his leading single off the album, “Disc 2 Track 2,” and its accompanying music video. Before the music video begins, a message from Cole appears over a black screen.

“For the past 10 years, this album has been hand crafted with one intention: a personal challenge to myself to create my best work,” Cole wrote. “To do on my last what I was unable to do on my first. I had no way of knowing how much time, focus and energy it would eventually take to achieve this, but despite the countless challenges along the way, I knew in my heart I would one day get to the finish line. I owed it first and foremost to myself. And secondly, I owed it to hip hop.”