For the diss track by Kendrick Lamar, J Cole apologizes

Cole's song, titled "7 Minute Drill," was an answer to Kendrick Lamar's verse on the popular single "Like That," where the rapper bragged about how great he was at rap.

Retaliating, Cole said that Lamar had "fallen off like the Simpsons" and referred to his most recent album as "tragic".

However, Cole expressed regret for his "lame" and "goofy" remark in a speech on Sunday.He admitted to the crowd at the Dreamville Festival in North Carolina, "I ain't gonna lie to y'all the past two days felt terrible." "I damn near had a relapse" .

Calling the song a "mis-step" and expressing his desire to "get back to my true path," he begged Lamar's pardon.

The song "First Person Shooter" from last year, Cole's suggestion that he, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar were the current "big three" names in hip-hop, set off the verbal spat.

Lamar objected to the portrayal. He declared there was no "big three - it's just big me" in a heated line from the song Like That.

He continued by referring to Cole's greatest verses as "a light pack" and saying that he was Drake's Michael Jackson replaced by Prince.

'War time'

During his Sunday on-stage speech, Cole admitted that he had felt under pressure to write a comeback.

"Have you all heard about the bazooka that was dropped during the game? I must have missed a thousand calls, boy.

Text messages were everywhere." His friends and coworkers were saying that it was "war time" and that they wanted to "see blood," he clarified.

"I was torn because I knew how I feel about these two [rappers], who are my peers and whom I've had the honor of standing next to.

The world, however, is craving blood." Despite his efforts to maintain a cheerful tone throughout his poem, the outcome "didn't sit right with my spirit".

He continued, calling Lamar "one of the greatest" and praising his back catalog while expressing his hope that Lamar hadn't taken offense. 

"And I stuck my chin out if he did. I'll take that on the chin, so give it your best try."

Cole continued by promising to update or remove 7 Minute Drill from his most recent album when it was made available on streaming sites.

But as of this writing, the original is still in tact. Rappers taking back their controversial songs after they've been released is uncommon, but it does happen.

Cole is actually not entirely unfamiliar with the phenomenon at this point.

When Cole's career first began in 2011, seasoned New York MC Canibus dropped a song titled J Clone in which he called out the rising star for being disrespectful.

However, he released an apology video 48 hours later, declaring, "Hip-hop has spoken up loud and clear, it's a 'Cole world' right now, and you're reigning champ".

"I apologize for going too far and accept full responsibility for my conduct. It seems cheesy, simple-minded, and just plain wrong. I adore hip-hop too much to use it as an excuse for my conceit."