J. Cole Talks Media, Trump, Abuse Allegations on Nas & More with Billboard

J. Cole doesn’t do too many interviews but when he does, he manages to leave a mark on you.

Kendrick Lamar Shakes Up The Super Bowl With Bold Drake Diss And Surprise Guests

Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl 59 halftime performance was nothing short of legendary, leaving fans buzzing with surprise cameos and bold moments that took his long-running feud with Drake to new heights. Kicking off with an unreleased song snippet and followed by “Squabble Up” from his latest album GNX, Kendrick immediately set the tone for a game-changing performance. Fans eagerly waited to see if Kendrick would play his diss track Not Like Us, especially with Drake's ongoing lawsuit against him and his label for defamation and harassment. Lamar's performance included an unexpected appearance by SZA and a quirky cameo from Serena Williams, along with Samuel L. Jackson’s comedic interruptions, all building the suspense around the Drake drama. In the middle of his performance, Kendrick turned up the heat, looking straight into the camera and directly addressing Drake with his famous lyrics, “I heard you like them young," as fans held their breath. Despite the tension, Kendrick censored himself when it came time to call Drake a "certified lover boy" and avoided saying “pedophile,” which had been widely speculated. Social media lit up with mixed reactions, with some fans mocking the performance as a "mid mashup" and others noting the intense hostility toward Drake. With the hashtag #KendrickBowl trending, it’s clear that Kendrick’s performance was a cultural moment that pushed boundaries—but has he gone too far, or is this just another chapter in hip-hop history? Only time will tell, and Drake has yet to respond.

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The Dreamville boss recently chatted with Billboard during a KOD tour stop in Dallas where he spoke on things like Donald Trump & why he didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton, why he doesn’t feel like a star, his thoughts on criticism to his latest album KOD, having an “intense” conversation with XXXTentation back in February over FaceTime, Kelis’ abuse allegations on his hero Nas and more.

On what gets on his radar:

I’m in the Dreamville [group] chat on the executive side, and in there, there are updates about such-and-such dropped an album. Then I’m in the sports chat, which also bleeds over into everything. There’s not many big things that miss me.

Thoughts on Voting:

The next election? It depends on who they put up there. Trust me, I hate to be a person who’s even promoting that I didn’t vote. Actually, with Trump in office, I love that America gets to see the truth. If Hillary Clinton was in office, it would be the most fucking disingenuous shit because everybody would be thinking that everything’s cool because we got an incredibly qualified female president. Which would’ve been amazing on so many levels. But all the shit we see right now would’ve still existed; it would’ve just been quiet. And I prefer this shit to be out loud. I prefer an honest America. I prefer the world seeing that, yes, we’re a country that is dumb enough — no disrespect — [that] we got duped into electing Donald Trump.

Kelis’ allegations of abuse on ex husband Nas:

Yeah, that hurt. I ain’t going to lie. That hurts. [Pauses.] It feels weird because I fuck with Nas, but I just have to be honest. I came up seeing too much fucked-up shit for that to be acceptable. I don’t care who it is. I don’t fuck with people abusing women, and I don’t fuck with people not taking care of their kids.

Read the full cover story here.