In a rare interview, J. Cole says he has genuine love for Drake and Kendrick Lamar and addresses why he apologized to K-Dot during the middle of their historic rap feud.

On Friday (March 20), J. Cole gave a rare interview with Apple Music where he discussed a variety of topics including the success of his latest album, The Fall-Off, and where he stands after Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s rap feud, which he bowed out of and apologized to Kendrick.

The North Carolina rhymer wanted to make it clear that he still has genuine love for both Drizzy and K-Dot.

“I got genuine love for these dudes,” he said during his hour-long sit-down with journalist Nadeska Alexis. “I hate to see the world sh*t on either one of them in defense of the other.”

Elsewhere in the interview, J. Cole recalled his decision to apologize to Kendrick at Dreamville Fest in April of 2024 right before Drake and Kendrick’s rap feud kicked off. He said that moment came to him just one hour before he walked on stage realizing that his Kendrick diss track, “7 Minute Drill,” was not how he personally felt about the Compton rapper.

“It hit me an hour before…because, like, two or three days before that, it was it was like, ‘Oh nah, this was terrible’ because I felt like I misrepresented myself,” he explained.

“It’s like all of a sudden I’m giving life to division and to a negative to negative, uh storylines, or negative perceptions on somebody that I f**k with and got love for. Somebody that I like cared about,” he continued.

“So an hour before it was like, ‘A-ha!’ Like yo, in a very loud manner, you know, on a very public forum on your album, you said some s**t you didn’t believe in. Now you got an opportunity to go on a bigger forum…and say something that you believe in. And in that moment, I’m like, ‘Thank you, God,’” he added.

J. Cole’s interview can be viewed in its entirely down below.