After weeks of controversy and speculation about bad blood, Future and Metro Boomin have unveiled the second installment of their joint album series, We Still Don’t Trust You, which features none other than J. Cole. Cole appears on a seven-minute track titled “Red Leather,” rapping what some fans have interpreted as a dig at Drake.
“My story’s more clever, my similes was better/ My energy was never on some toughest n-a shit,” Cole raps on the song. “I was just a conscious rapper that would fuck a n-a bitch/ I was just a college n-a from a rougher premises/ Kept my nose out the streets, but I love to get a whiff/ Of the action, with risk comes attraction/ The blicks get to blastin’, I turn into a track star/ Wanted all the hoes, what the fuck you think I rap for?”
“Red Leather” arrives a week after Cole dropped “7 Minute Drill,” a diss track he released in response to Kendrick Lamar’s featured verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s earlier song “Like That.” Earlier this week, Cole apologized for the song, calling it “the lamest shit I ever did in my fucking life.”
“Like That,” which appeared on Future and Metro Boomin’s album, We Don’t Trust You, which dropped last month, took aim at both Cole and Drake. On the track, Lamar hops in to declare, “Yeah get up with me, fuck sneak dissing / ‘First Person Shooter,’ I hope they came with three switches/ Motherfuck the big three, n-a, it’s just big me.” While Lamar’s diss was the most blatant, fans have speculated that both Future and Metro had also taken some shots at Drake on the album.
In his apology, Cole noted, “I know how I feel about my peers. These two n-s that I’ve just been blessed to even stand beside in this game, let alone chase — chase their greatness, right? So I felt conflicted because I don’t really feel no way. But the world wants to see blood.”
Drake has yet to respond to the recent drama in any meaningful capacity. The rapper was rumored to make a surprise appearance at Dreamville, but ultimately did not take the stage. Drake and Cole shared a tour together last year in addition to releasing a milestone-achieving collaboration in October. Lamar and Cole have less of a public track record, but the North Carolina rapper’s admiration has always been palpable.
