"Do you blame him?" — Benny The Butcher defends J Cole's decision to exit Drake and Kendrick Lamar's "gossip battle"

American rapper Benny The Butcher opened up on his views about J. Cole's exit from the rap battle involving Drake and K-Dot. In an interview with Fight Hype, the rapper praised Cole for dragging himself out of what he labeled a "gossip battle."

"Do you blame him for not wanting to be a part of this at this moment? Do you blame him? I don't. I probably would've went about it in a different way, but it's like a gossip battle."

Benny The Butcher added that the beef has become more like a "gossip battle" than a "rap battle." The comments by Benny were made in context to J. Cole's decision to remove the diss track he dropped in response to Like That.

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Benny The Butcher believed that J Cole made the right decision by exiting the ongoing rap beef between Drake and K-Dot

While mentioning the ongoing rap battle between Drake and K-Dot, J. Cole's name is worth mentioning since he was the rapper who almost got involved in the beef. After Like That by Kendrick Lamar, Future, and Metro Boomin was released in March, J Cole responded with a diss track, dropped on April 5, 2024.

Two days after the diss track 7 Minute Drill was released, Cole publicly apologized to K-Dot for the track when he was performing at the Dreamville Festival. On April 7, he addressed the audience and said,

"I'm so proud of [Might Delete Later], except for one part. It's one part of that sh*t that makes me feel like, man, that's the lamest sh*t I did in my f**kin' life, right? And I know this is not what a lot of people want to hear."

Recently, in an interview, Benny The Butcher said that he supported Cole's decision to step out of the feud. Upon being asked what he thought about the situation, he said,

"That's my dog. Honestly, you can see how gossipy and everything that this battle's turned into."

Benny The Butcher added:

"It's not like a rap battle. It's like a telling-each-other's-business type of thing, so I wouldn't want to be a part of that."

Benny, himself, is not a new player when it comes to rap battles. He is already beefing with American rapper Freddie Gibbs. At the beginning of the year, while Benny was on The Breakfast Club, he was asked if he would reconcile with Gibbs. Benny replied with a firm 'no.'

"You don't do that sh*t to people you cool with, and that's just it. I really don't have no problem with him. He never done nothing to me in life. I have no problem with him. It's just that I would be goofy."

The rapper, however, in a recent interview, spoke about the feud between Drake and K-Dot and revealed that he would not want to be a part of that. When the interviewer asked if the situation between the two rappers was "messy," Benny agreed to it.

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While Benny The Butcher praised Cole, many artists did not like his decision and apology

On April 7, when J. Cole went about apologizing to Kendrick Lamar, he also expressed his fondness towards the rapper. He went on to say that the diss track had disrupted his peace of mind. Cole continued:

"I just want to come up here and publicly be like bruh, that was the lamest, goofiest sh*t. 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 on my path."

He then said addressing Lamar,

"I pray that my n**ga really didn't feel no way, and if he did, my n**ga, I got my chin out. Take your best shot. Im'ma take that shit on the chin, boy. Do what you do."

While Benny The Butcher supported Cole in his decision, many did not take it on a positive note. This includes Hit-Boy, Terrace Martin, Reason, and Mick Jenkins. While some believed he should have stood firmly by his stance, others described him as "soft."

This isn't the first time that Benny The Butcher spoke for J. Cole. In a February 2024 interview with HipHopDX, The Butcher revealed that he believed Cole was the "best rapper alive." He further spoke about him and said,

"Like right now, fresh in my memory right now. It gotta be that kid there, man. It's a different aura with him, right?"

Benny The Butcher and J. Cole have worked on a project together, which was Johnny P's Caddy, released in 2022. The last studio album Benny released was in January, and under the name, Everybody Can't Go.