After releasing his politically-charged track “Snow on the Bluff” Tuesday night (June 16), J. Cole quickly responded to online chatter regarding whether he issued shots to Chicago star Noname on his latest song. 

Cole unabashedly addressed the turbulent climate and his fears of not doing enough with his celebrity status to help accelerate change in the Black community. On the song, he allegedly questioned Noname’s since-deleted tweet in which she was critical of “top-selling rappers” who were mum during the protests.

“F–k is the point of you preaching your message to those that already believe what you believe?/” I’m on some ‘F–k a retweet,’ most people is sheep / You got all the answers but how you gon’ reach?” he rapped.

Lambasted on social media for his verse, Cole went on Twitter and debunked his alleged tiff with Noname. “Morning. I stand behind every word of the song that dropped last night,” he began. “Right or wrong I can’t say, but I can say it was honest. Some assume to know who the song is about. That’s fine with me, it’s not my job to tell anybody what to think or feel about the work. I accept all conversation and criticisms. But Let me use this moment to say this Follow @noname. I love and honor her as a leader in these times. She has done and is doing the reading and the listening and the learning on the path that she truly believes is the correct one for our people. Meanwhile a n—a like me just be rapping.”

He added: “I haven’t done a lot of reading and I don’t feel well equipped as a leader in these times. But I do a lot of thinking. And I appreciate her and others like her because they challenge my beliefs and I feel that in these times that’s important.We may not agree with each other but we gotta be gentle with each other.”

After Noname’s tweet last month, Cole appeared at a protest in his hometown of Fayetteville in light of the death of George Floyd, while Kendrick Lamar, the other rapper fans suggested Noname was alluding to in her tweet, attended a peace walk in Compton at the start of June. 

Read Cole’s tweets below. 

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