Wale Responds To J. Cole With The Revealing “Groundhog Day”

Wale

When J. Cole released “False Prophets” on Friday, it seemed clear that the song’s second verse was about Wale. Now, the DMV lyricist has a response – but it’s far from what rap fans would expect.

On “Groundhog Day,” Wale enlists a Jake One knocker to respond to the lyrics from his former Roc Nation comrade. He references several of Cole’s songs and mentions him by name, but the song is more of a response than it is a diss. Wale speaks about anxiety, drug abuse, and suicidal thoughts while explaining how he and J .Cole’s careers took on different paths.

“The most highly underrated of my generation. Behind them crooked smiles, niggas neglect to embrace me,” he rhymes, referencing Cole’s TLC-sampling hit single. “…I remember me and Cole would open for Hov. Every day a star is born, I guess I died in the womb. I ain’t make it on Blueprint, so made me a blueprint. You got you a nice watch, my minutes is finished.”

“Hey, here go that real shit. Battling anxiety and privately them percocets. Purchased like 30 of them, murdered them in like 30 hours. Weight of the world on my shoulders I bet I military press,” Wale adds.

On the second verse of “False Prophets,” J. Cole speaks about his friendship with a rapper who is so desperate for respect from legends and critics that he doesn’t appreciate his fans. The song seemed like a clear reference to Wale, who has spoken openly about what he feels is a lack of regard from industry heads, rap fans and Internet trolls. “Groundhog Day” doesn’t see Wale in battle mode, but instead as giving perspective to Cole and anyone listening. With recent news about Kid Cudi and Kanye West increasing the rap world’s bandwidth for conversations about mental illness, songs – and interviews – like this should add to the conversation.