TDE President Punch ‘Respects’ J. Cole For Backing Down From Kendrick Lamar Beef: ‘It’s Rare To Have Enough Heart To Make The Correction, Salute’

Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) President Terrence “ Punch ” Henderson Jr. is publicly issuing a salute and his respect for J. Cole for backing down from his latest rap beef with Kendrick Lamar .

RELATED : Joe Budden Says Kendrick Lamar Won First Round Of Latest J. Cole Rap Beef, Says Cole’s Response Was ‘Too Nice And Too Soft’

For years, the two rappers have been vying for the spot of Best Rapper Alive, with quick jabs here and there over the years. However, things ramped up when K. Dot joined Metro Boomin’ and Future on their track “Like That.” K. Dot dissed J. Cole and Drake , which resulted in Cole dropping a surprise project ‘ Might Delete Later ,’ featuring his warning shot to K. Dot, “7 Minute Drill.”

As we shared on Hollywood Unlocked Instagram, on Sunday (April 7), J. Cole addressed his beef with Kendrick Lamar and spoke on the making of “7 Minute Drill” at his musical festival Dreamville Fest.

The North Carolina rapper told the crowd, “I been happy, I’ve been moving on my own accord… now why am I saying all of that? I put out this project on Friday called, ‘ Might Delete Later .’ … I don’t know how many people checked it out or whatever (a projected 140-160K). And, I swear to God… I’m so proud of that project. Because, I know, one, it’s just an EP that leads me to this thing that I’ve been working on for a long time and I know the work it took to get to a certain type of skill level… that sh*t mean a lot to me… I’m so proud of that project, except for one part.”

RELATED : DJ Akademiks Slams J. Cole For Apologizing To Kendrick Lamar — Says He Doesn’t Have Any ‘Passion’ For Music

Cole added, “It’s one part on that sh*t that make me feel like, ‘Man, that’s the lamest sh*t I ever did. in my f***ing life,’ right? And, I know, this is not what a lot of people want to hear… I can hear my n***as up there right now like… ‘Nahhh, don’t do that.’ But, I gotta keep it 100 with y’all. I damn near had a relapse, right? Because, y’all heard some sh*t that happened two-three weeks ago, however long it was… Y’all heard that bazooka that was dropped on the motherf***ing game.”

Cole continued, “So all this time of me moving on my own accord for the first time, I was tested. Why am I tested? Cause I got the world and I got my n***a like, ‘What you gonna do, Cole?’ Boy, I must have had a thousand missed calls. Oh my f***ing God. Texts flooded. I couldn’t answer my sh*t. N***a, it’s wartime. N***a wanna see blood and I was conflicted because one, I know my heart. I know how I feel about my peers. These two n***as that I been blessed to stand beside in this game, let alone chase their greatness. So, I felt conflicted ’cause like bruh, I don’t really feel no way but the world wanna see blood. I don’t know if y’all can feel that but the world wanna see blood.”

RELATED : J. Cole Accused Of Spewing Transphobic Lyrics On New ‘Might Delete Later’ Track “Pi”

Cole concluded, “Y’all love Kendrick Lamar correct? As do I. So, I just wanna come up here and publicly be like bruh, that was the lamest goofiest sh*t. 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. I pray that my n***a didn’t feel no way and if he did, my n***a, I got my chin out, take your best shot. I’mma take that sh*t on the chin. Boy, do what you do. All good. It’s love. And I pray that y’all [will] forgive a n***a for the misstep and I can get back to my true path, ’cause I ain’t gonna lie to y’all, the past two days felt terrible.”

After J. Cole waved the white flag and admitted he felt bad dissing Kendrick Lamar, Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) President Punch reacted. On Monday (April 8), the TDE President took to X (formerly Twitter) and said, “lol.” He followed it up by saying, “Cole is a very genuine guy. I respect it. We often give in to external pressures and outside influences and act out of our own character. It’s rare to have enough heart to make the correction. It didn’t align with HIM so he fixed it in the same manner he engaged! Salute.”

Reacting to TDE President Punch’s tweet, a social user reacted and said, “In your late 30s still giving in to outside pressures is wild to me.” TDE President Punch replied, “lol. The pressure at that position might be a little bit different than most people.” In a separate tweet, Punch added, “P.S. I knew ‘ To Pimp A Butterfly was a good album! lol.”

RELATED : Suge Knight Slams J. Cole For Waving White Flag In Kendrick Lamar Beef: ‘That Quitter Attitude Would’ve Kept Us In Slavery’

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