 J. Cole has shocked the world and we gotta talk about it. What are we talking about for those who somehow have been under a rock and missed it? Kendrick Lamar hopped on Future's track, well his album, and he dissed J. Cole and Drake. You know what happened after that? J. Cole actually responded, but after he responded, everybody knew that his festival, the Dreamville Festival's coming, right? It could be like a Jay-Z at the, what is it, the Hot 97 Festival, whatever, back in the early 2000s moment, get on the stage and then say, what is it? Who the fuck is 50 Cent? I'm all about a dollar. Like one of those type of epic moments that can stand to test the time in hip hop. What is J. Cole gonna do? The world is watching. You know what J. Cole did? J. Cole said, you know what? My bad y'all, like I'm gonna pick up my spade and the world is like, space, whoa, run space, stick bro, you can't pull out. J. Cole pulled out. J. Cole pulled out. But this is actually, I don't know, maybe changing the game. I think it's a lot to talk about because some people are saying it's a career killer, like legit career killer. He can't be considered one of the greatest of all time. Some people think his brand is tarnished in general. So we're gonna talk about all of those things from the scientific, what we think as professional marketers, branding people. That side of it, but we also gotta talk about just straight up like hip hop. What is this thing about and what's next? Like what are our predictions? So first and foremost, man, J. Corey. Hello. When J. Cole, went out J. Cole responded. What did you think? Did you hear the whole album or did you just hear seven minutes? Yeah, I've heard seven minutes and maybe like two other songs. So I haven't got a chance to get through the whole thing first. But I mean, when I heard the apology, I don't know man, I thought it was interesting because we almost came in and made a video title. Is this a rollout, you know what I'm saying? There were a lot of pieces that leading up to this point made me feel very strongly about the fact that like, oh, this is a rollout for somebody, for something, you know what I'm saying? Then J. Cole will drop the album. I was like, oh, this is perfect. This is a J. Cole rollout, right? But the apology made me feel like, no, this is a real thing, you know what I'm saying? This is a real moment. One, just because of, I understand where the potential of thinking he tarnished his reputation can come from if you're thinking about what you may perceive to be J. Cole's core audience. And I'll say that strongly, you know what I'm saying? What you perceive to be, because I think what people think the core J. Cole fan base looks like is not what the core J. Cole fan base really looks like at this point, you know what I'm saying? So I can understand where the sentiment comes from. Because now I'm thinking like, okay, if we were to assume it was still a part of the rollout, let's say I'm wrong, it's like, man, what's the play here, right? No one would see that coming. So it would, you know what I'm saying? Create a lot of headlines. And I don't know, man, this is just maybe where I'm a skeptic. Like I said, like it's just, it's hard for me to just point at things that this is a game plan. And if it is a game plan, I came up with it as a genius. You know what I'm saying? I was like, bro, J. Cole did the impossible. That's why he legit shocked the world. People didn't know that this was an option. Like that's why the world is going. That's a great point, yeah. Like nobody knew you could do that. Like for real, it's like he picked up the spade. He said, yo, man, like, nah, I'm good. I don't want to do this. I don't want to play anymore. I'm taking my ball home. And they're like, yo, bro, come on now. So to me, I understand people are highly disappointed. Some people are going overboard beyond like the career killer that they're starting to, you know, act like every bar he had on the project was wack and overall he's soft, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But to me, when you really look at it, like you said, J. Cole's core fan base now is not the core fan base that he started with. Not that some of those people haven't come with them, right? But it's not the type of sentiment. Like some people might have come in for one thing, but then they evolve with them and they're looking at the world a new way. Even if you're disappointed with them, I'll tell you exactly why. Like it's not a career killer. It's not going to ruin his brand. One, like people say this whole thing, you know, and hip hop, they want hip hop to mature. They want hip hop to be different. Hip hop is not a monolith. There's a variety of artists. So we can't keep on falling on this. Like we argument that, oh, hip hop is all competitive. A rap, it has to be competitive. Like there's so many other types. Like we don't want to see Missy Elliott in a rap battle necessarily. Like we're not calling for that. Everybody doesn't have to be in that type of competition. And like you still got battle raps for that. Like that is the pure raw space of that. Go on YouTube, people are killing it in that space. But for J. Cole in particular, like, what are you hearing people say? A lot of people are saying, oh, well, it's on brand, but like, nah, man, this is weak. You can't pull out. This is for the sport of it. It's not even that serious, right? They're saying that. Or they're saying, I respect J. Cole as a man, but nah, man, you gotta hop in the ring, da, da, da, da, right? So if they know that this is on brand, it's not like you hopped off the roof and you were like some kind of street rapper, I'm hard. And now you're doing a 180 on people, right? And also people are still saying they respect you as a man. It was like, look, that's way more important anyway, right? So like, he's gonna be thorough throughout this. He's already at an untouchable level anyway, damn near in terms of like his career is not gonna be over. But if Meek could go through what he went through and come back to the level of relevance that he's at, this ain't nothing, man. Yeah, and I agree. He actually brought up a good point. I do, now that you said that and I think about it, I do think the apology is on brand, right? Cause J. Cole's brand has been, you know, God level MC that's underrated, right? And he always likes being the underdog in the situation. You know, as big as he is, he still talks about himself like he just started yesterday. You know, that's kind of insane. But as much as his brand today is kind of like Kumbaya, you know, brotherly, little more brotherly love type of, type of, I think going all in would have actually been very anti-brand, cause it would have been weird. Cause it'd be like, man, like, you know, you've never done this before with any other artists. Why are you going so hard in this situation? Unless of course we as the audience learn something, you know what I'm saying? That maybe you made us feel justified. It will feel kind of off, you know? And then the second thing, you know, I like the ring example you bought, right? Cause this is literally what it feels like to me. It's like these are two high level boxers who know how to fight to the highest level in the sport. They know how to throw hard blows without killing each other. The audience is waiting for somebody to decapitate the other person. And they're like, no, like I can, I can fuck him up without attempting to ruin him. You know what I'm saying? We can still do that and not tear each other down. You know, if we talk about, like I said, taking it to like a hip hop thing, I mean, you know, for artists of their size, it's probably not the best for either of them to go that crazy at that level. Because historically that very rarely works out for, you know, it might work out for one party, you know what I'm saying? I think that there's still that level of respect where it's like, okay, like we don't want to end the other one's career. You know what I'm saying? That's not, I don't think it's that serious, you know? But then even when we go back and look at, you know, past histories of rappers that have beef to that degree, you know what I'm saying? It's where it does get that crazy. It very rarely works out, you know what I'm saying? Well, for them, like you have enough extreme cases, like, you know what I'm saying? That I think makes people fetishize it a bit more. But if you look at all of the beef and music, you know what I'm saying? It's a very small percentage of the bunch that become like, you know, these huge cases where everybody wins in a type of way in the end, very, very small group of beef. You know what I'm saying? That's real. And then you and Ritter said something that I think like a lot of people really missed, bruh. And let me see if I can find it real quick. He said something that is like to me just straightforward. He said, what classic disc records were the result of two cats that respect each other just wanting to prove who's best? Yeah, exactly. Like, we don't have any real beef. Like, what are we really going like that whole just for the sport of it? It's a hard thing to really maintain because too much ego evolves, like the lights are too hot. You know what I mean? Too many people are watching. And this is what I feel like happened. Matter of fact, I'm going to go through just it's important to recap like exactly what J. Cole said and then provide context, right? So he said, when he was on stage, I'm so proud of that project except for one part. One part of that shit just doesn't feel like it's the, no, one part of that shit makes me feel like it's the lame shit I ever did in my fucking life. I think that's important because people are calling him lame. People are calling him soft now. But he said, he felt like he just did the lame shit he ever did his life. So I want to get into like the as a man part that I think is really bigger and actually doper than a lot of people want to give credit for. You know what I mean? But we'll get to that. But the first time I was tested, why am I tested? Because I've got the world and I got my niggas like what are you going to do, Cole? I felt conflicted because I didn't know I didn't really, what do you say? Because I don't really feel no way but the world want to see blood. I don't even care like that. Well, I don't really feel any kind of way but my people are watching. And what did he say in middle child? He said, but I'd never be for the nigga for nothing. If I smoke a rapper is going to be legit. Middle child, he said that. I think he said it might maybe twice in that song. I'd never be for the rapper if I smoke him is going to be legit. So it's like, this dude, I'm cool with him even if I'm not super cool with him I just don't care enough. Like I don't have no real problems with this dude. And to me, this goes back to J Cole being on brand. He said this stuff time and time again. Like even in that same project he just dropped might delete later. He had lines going touching on like the fall off over and over again, which your project is still to come. He's always going through something that I don't think I've personally seen from a rapper art form in the spotlight throughout their career journey at like J Cole has which is deconstructing your own ego before people. The reason I say that is because at one point I thought it was just a straight brand play. He was like, oh, he was going this one way was a little bit more rapid, rap-y, boom, bap-y, you know, not like straight up, but you know, very more lyrical and that focus on that. And then he's like, oh yeah, I'm gonna be this artsy. Look, I'm a grow locks. You know what I mean? He was light-skinned dude, like typical light-skinned dude. You know what I mean? At first and then flip the whole brand. I got the locks and then I'm like, we are the world type vibes. But outside of like the we are the world Kumbaya type vibes, there's been a lot of focus on his own personal ego over and over again. And if anybody has committed to something, like for real, you've changed your walk of life in a very real way, whether that's religion or just you were in trouble and you want to be in less trouble. You know, with the people you're hanging out with, you can always say, all right, I'm gonna make a change or whatever. And for Jay-Caul, all right, is this thing just marketing and branding or whatever like, and this vibe is just working for him. But when you can see that the change is real is when someone gets tested, like in a real way. And he had to make a sacrifice with this shit. Like that was, to me, that's a real ego strip. Like it wasn't, to me, it couldn't have been easy for him to go out there, do that. And then step back. To me, that actually solidified his brand and everything he's been working on the last, I don't know, five, 10 years or whatever, more than anything. Yeah, no, that's exactly what I was gonna say. I think that, you know, like I was kind of saying a couple minutes ago, overall, I do believe it's the better brand play because if you are a Jay-Caul fan and he kind of would have stepped like that, now you're looking back at his whole history and his whole work and you're starting to question things, right? Because what you, now in this real life example of what you get to see him act like it doesn't line up with the picture he's been giving you the last couple of years. This is exactly what, you know what I'm saying? It lines up with the picture he's been giving me for the last couple of years, like these actions. And you know, I think that going back to something else I said, I don't really think it's a lose-lose situation for Jay-Caul because his overall brand is I'm a high level underdog. So if he, you know, was humbly considering himself to be at the top of that, and he gets pushed back down, he can push right back to his comfort zone, you know what I'm saying? Like being pushed back to a place that he likes to, you know, he likes to kind of put himself in. And so I feel like that may have been a part of him that thought about that, like, hey, like, you know, if I move forward in this way, this could be a lose for me. This could be lose-lose for both of us. If I go this way, you know, it's only really so much else either of us are gonna take in this situation. And I think the most commendable thing about it, which is something I think is hard for a lot of artists to do, is to stand on your core brand principles when you're put in a situation where your brand, acting on your brand could be a detriment to yourself, you know what I'm saying? And so it's like, that's when you really got to think, like, man, is this really who I, you know, is this really who I am makes it easier. You know, a lot of artists like to live and die by the brand is me, but it's like, this is when you kind of get to see it. This is really you, we gon' see it. And we gon' know because if it really is you, then you're gonna be willing to buy that bullet and just like, fuck it, I just got to deal with the really cool. I gotta deal with the X, Y, Z, you know what I'm saying? Because this really is who I am and what I align with. And I think we've seen that in bad ways before, you know, it's like the equivalent of saying like a street rapper crash out. It's like, okay, I understand why brand-wise you felt like you had to do that, you know what I'm saying? No, it don't make sense, but I get it. So I look at this as a more positive version of that same thing. Exactly, bro. And it goes back to, again, people are saying it's on brand. You still people, still seeing people say stuff like, well, I mean, I respect them as a man, but to me, right? People saying I respect you as a man, that's better than the reverse, right? Should I rap better and make my life worse? You know what I mean? And what I mean by that is like, there's people who have these great illustrious careers. And then we're like, ah, their personal life. You know what I mean? We see what's going on with Diddy or whatever, questionable. We don't know what he's gonna pan out to be, but there's multiple examples where it's like, ah, the music is great, but the man ain't all that. Or we don't know, question mark, asterisk. But right now, he's standing on. All right, we knew he was great musically. As a man, all right, cool. And we rock what you solid. Now your music is in question. For me, based on somebody who's building a brand that he has, like, and when I say brain, you know, I use that obviously because we were talking about marketing. That's just how people know him from a perception standpoint. But you know what I mean? He's supposedly expressing these core values and going on this journey. Like when you go through something like this, like what you just said, you're in a put in a position that could like really like reverse everything that you just did. And I know a lot of people think it's not that serious, but for him, it was that serious. Then like, that's when shit hits the fan. So like, that's where I want to go back to what he said. Like, if you think about exactly what he said, right? Cause people just say, oh, he apologized. He apologized. He said, for the first time I was tested. See, he said he was tested. Like, again, I'm going on this old deconstructing my ego journey. I'm seeing the world different. Why am I tested? Because I got the world looking at me and I got my homies saying, what are you going to do? I felt conflicted because I don't really feel anything about this situation, but the world wants to see blood. Like, and ironically, I did an episode, like it's one of them Saturday episodes, last Saturday I dropped it. And it was talking about like the rollout strategy just doing the song a week, but how one of the reasons people could wrongly continue to do it is just the ego trip of, yo, I gotta keep doing it. Just clock and say that I did it, right? Not looking at what was your purpose for doing in the beginning and are you getting that outcome or not, right? Or is it just so you can tell people you did it? You can show other people you did it. And at one point I talked about ego trips, right? And the whole goal is, right? An ego trip, if you look at it as a literal trip, your ego could take you around the world, right? But as you go through the journey that J. Cole is saying, he's going through, as he deconstructs his ego, the whole goal becomes making the trip shorter and shorter. First that shit took me to China. Now I was able to stop my ego at the airport and turn around and not waste all that time. Now I got in the car and I just turned around. It was like, yeah, you know what? That's a bad decision. I shouldn't even go there. And I think that's what happened, right? We saw J. Cole practicing the exercise and this entire process. And he was able to literally just go to the car. You know what I mean? Ride down the block and then get to the light and say, nah, bro, I'm going back in the house. And that's really what you want. Cause you waste less and less time not playing other people's game. My whole goal for life is spending a minimum amount of time playing other people's game. He said, I don't even care about this like that. So like I can respect that part wholly. And again, to me that's solidified cause I'm always skeptical of someone who's like going that way with that type of brand and why are they really doing it? And I'm like, you know, like there was nothing to win for him and people, cause the one thing that, you know I'm talking all this like woo-woo about ego trips but the trick is like you can benefit from ego trips. I'm not saying that like it's all like a L. It's only a L based on your personal like measurement but like, bro, people going ego trips, win rap battles, elevate their status over and over again. But J. Cole's always talking about, I don't care about the status. I think even in Mike Deli later, he said, I don't even care about the status or some version of that, you know what I mean? So, you know, like he's been telling us this the whole time, he been telling us who he is. Like we're just reacting. Cause again, we didn't know that that was an option, we did not that you could do that. That's true. That's why you talked about, you know, possibly making history is like, I mean, he technically did man, cause I can't think of any other situation that is even close to something like this where, you know, or at least not a situation where it garnered the same level of press and conversation. You know what I'm saying? It's probably happening, but it probably wasn't, you know, it wasn't that big. And I think that the message is gonna shoot through the music community as a whole. It's gonna be pretty interesting. Depending on which side of it you are, if you don't like the more traditional, you miss the competitive side. I feel like the next five, 10 years are gonna suck for you, you know what I'm saying? But if you don't like the more like, hey, artists should be cool with each other and cool about y'all. Let's not, you know, you know, delete our legends and our, you know, the people that we look up to. And I think it's gonna be a good push forward for that, you know what I'm saying? And I think it's a good lesson for all artists to not let your audience bully you into being tough for no reason, you know what I'm saying? It's a great lesson to that. That's right, that's not hard. Legitimately, if people wanna say that's what tough is, like what's softer than doing something only because everybody else wants you to do it? Like, what's harder than apologizing to a crowd full of people, you know, it did not want you to do that. You know what I'm saying? That's a hard situation to be in, you know what I'm saying? Right, right. See the brother, that's like, that's the double entendre, right? It's often hard, but like what's literally harder, way harder to actually do that than just hop in the ring and keep going. And then- In your home in the studio, you don't make it so easy, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Way harder, dawg, way harder. Who do you think is gonna take, who do you think takes the biggest L from this move that J. Cole made? I mean, I guess if there is an L, J. Cole takes it, but I don't think it's a big L. Like I think it's like, you know, it's like a baby L, you know what I'm saying? Like an L that could develop into a bigger L, but I think right now it's a small L. I disagree. I disagree with J. Cole. Okay, you think Kendrick does? Yes, 100%. I thought you were gonna say Drake, bro, okay? No, 100%, Kendrick took the biggest L of J. Cole's apology. I'm guessing, is it, cause they had the part where they thought like, damn, they ain't can't really swing back that hard, you know what I'm saying? Cause now it's just like punching the kid and it's like, hey bro, like, I'll set up. I'm gonna go deeper. I'm gonna touch on that reason. And then there's another reason that nobody's talking about. Okay. So reason number one, yes, because that's kind of wild. It's just like, all right, bro, go ahead and hit me on the chin and it doesn't hit the same, right? Cause it's like, all right, I guess that's cool that he hit them, but we can't celebrate it. You know people can't celebrate it the same. So it's like, you just did some type of like Jedi mind trick on me, you know what I mean? I can give you the bars, but it's not really even worth my time. How hard can I really go? You know what I mean? He might even just have to say something like, I'm disappointed that you went that way. You know what I mean? Nick is getting weak. It might be like that, but he can't just go hard. Or he has to go so hard that we're like, yo, he's violating and being disrespectful and see if he can bait J. Cole out because now it's legitimate beef, right? Yeah. Might be it. This is why J. Cole, why Kendrick is taking the biggest L to me. Like the real reason why he's taking the biggest L out of this to me. Not because what he technically lost that he has, but because of the opportunity he had that he lost. Okay. Kendrick almost got exactly what a Kendrick type, which is like a Koby type of energy would want. Kendrick would, his eyes probably goes red over the thought of I'm going against Drake and J. Cole at the same time. Y'all thought one of these dudes might be on my level. I'm about to slaughter both of these dudes at the same time before your eyes. And I think part of him like hates that that opportunity is gone. Like that's the L for him. And then think about the level of gold status that he would have like just fighting that fight. It's almost like the can't lose. Yeah, but see the thing that makes me think there's still a chance for him is that Drake hasn't responded. And if I think anybody's going to take it too far, I think it's going to be Drake. Oh no, like don't get me wrong. But there still can be a battle that they do whatever they do. But like that's not the same as I just beat the other two at one time. Cause again, that's also some stuff that we haven't really seen. Yeah, that's true. No, J. Cole is the beat into the punch with this, with the exit strategy. He's like, damn man, this dude left through the vents in the room. I thought it was, I ain't leaving no windows. I locked the doors. This man found a vent and slid on out. Man, yeah, I didn't think of it. That's a good point though. I didn't think of it that way. Cause yeah, cause like, but that, and it goes back to the original conversation we were going to have about, is it a rollout? I also feel like, I don't know. I just feel like, like you said it was a competitive moment that Kendrick was looking the drum up. Maybe he just really fucked with future. And he's like, hey bro, I got something for you. Like I'm gonna make sure, you know what I'm saying? This shit hit, or you know, future of Metro. I can see that, you know? I got some shit I wanted to say. I ain't got nothing coming out. So, you know, let me settle in your shit, you know? I mean, future probably like, all right, but, and so that's what I said. I think overall, man, like going back to that, if it was a purely organic moment, which I do believe it is, I still think it is one of the most entertaining moments of music in at least the last like 10 weeks. If it was orchestrated, the person that orchestrated that deserves a raise. Whoever, you know what I'm saying, sees this and is behind it. If there was a person, a group of people behind it, they're geniuses. Because like you said, bro, it's the ultimate rug pulling trick. Nobody would have seen it coming. It's still gonna generate a bunch of headlines. It's still gonna get the marketing offset one. Like if it was somebody's idea, it was a great idea. And I want to give them their flowers. But if anybody could have did that, it does line up still because J. Cole already talks about the fall off anyway. Like this could be the entryway into the fall off. You know what I mean? He literally referenced the fall off on my lead later. And then you just lead them to do whatever they do. So it does fit narrative wise. If you really want to go like conspiracy, you know what I'm saying? And as you say that, man, see now you kind of got me back to the marketing side. Cause I was just thinking about, I could see some like marketing, you know, person at the label been like, yo, we should like have you be for the rapper. And J. Cole was like, I like, I don't really want to do it like that. And this was like, you know, the way they made it the plan stick. Like we'll please have you apologize at the end. And we tell everybody, you know, wasn't that big deal. And he was like, all right, bet. I can see that. I got a hundred percent see that. You know what I'm saying? I only thought they moved everything up a little bit earlier. And it landed on April Fools. I mean, even the fact that it landed close enough to Dreamville's past is a little suspicious. I mean, a lot like that's it is. It's like, you know, like, and I and Dreamville fast as a, as its own entity is what on like year four or five. This is around the time when people start trying more experimental marketing tactics. You know, they started feeling like, man, we got the core. We need to get more visibility. What can we do? Yeah. Kendrick had popped up at it crazy. You know what I'm saying? But no, yeah, there is still elements of it. Do make me a little bit suspicious. I ain't a lot. We knew something was going to happen, man. Like, like you said, the time of the Dreamville fast shot of the E.J. Jamaica. He asked if I was going to be there. And I was like, nah, but like, I know J. Cole on had that moment on stage. Nobody expected to be this moment. But, you know, you knew they had to be addressed on stage. That's that's what came with it. Yeah. Why not here? And J. Cole on post, so it had to be a festival. You know, you ain't going to make no content about it. You might look on here and knock it out here. Yeah. Yeah, I also think everybody was as surprised as we are that he pulled out. I don't think because things got moving so fast, I don't think the world fully acknowledged how surprised they were to hear respond in the first place. I agree. I agree with that. I agree. It was a cold conversation at first was that no one was going to respond, except maybe Drake. And then not only did he respond, he was the first to respond. Like, I know I saw it coming. And I felt like, you know, typical J. Cole man is like to address some shit like three years later. So I was like, man, I ain't saying he ain't never going to talk about it. You know, it's just not going to be, you know, in this this year. Yeah. Yeah. I saw DJ Academic say that Drake was like, nah, you must not know me if you think that I would not respond. If you ever think I would do something like what he did, like that type of energy, like he's definitely going to come. That's what I'm saying, bro. Like the energy that everybody wanted from J. Cole is coming, bro. Like we all just got to chill out, wait, you know what I'm saying, find some other things to do on the internet in the meantime, because I 100% believe Drake is going to be the one to take it too far. So, you know, to the same point that you made about Kendrick and him wanting to do that, I could see Drake feeling the same way because it's been a long time since the Meek Mill situation. You know, there's been a lot of jabs at the crown the last couple of years. And what better person to make an example of than Kendrick Lamar, you know what I'm saying? Like who else could he even make up that type of game for exactly as nobody, bro? Like, so it's like he also has a unique opportunity. Pusha T was like a side quest that nobody saw coming. But it was like, oh, actually we can take this seriously because Pusha is pushing. And he found the angle where people cared, right? But yeah, but there was nobody really you could look at for real after Meek aside from Cole and Kendrick. So, let's see how this goes. I think the reality is though, hey man, it seemed like J Cole been in that therapy heavy. And when it comes to him, I'm not surprised this is him because between him, Cole and Drake, he seems to be the most at peace. The mother two guys seem, I got some little insecurities to eat at us, avoid to feel whether it's just cause I want to really clearly be seen as number one or whatever they want to achieve. You can tell they're in a different vibe. J Cole, which is again, goes back to the power of him stepping out. Like, if you're at a certain level of success, right? You ever heard someone talk about fuck you money? All right, for those who don't know, fuck you money is like, I got so much money. I'm not tied to any organization. You could fire me or whatever. I'm good. Like my mind is clear. I'm at peace. I'm just really working for fun, getting into things that fun for fun. That's it, whatever. So imagine having fuck you money, having fuck you status like a J Cole has, but then still not being able to say fuck you because you tied in with your ego. And I think that's, well, again, he showed, cause that, nah, man, I'm not gonna get caught up in his game. He broke the matrix a little bit. That's what he really did. He broke the matrix as people saw it. And I was like, nah, bro, like why be written? We always talk about being rich and successful, et cetera, et cetera. And like people can't still go do stuff or be tied in. He was like, nah, I'ma actually not be to do it at the top who was playing the game I wanna play. I'ma be that guy that y'all say that your life would be like. I think his life, it seemed like his life might be pretty straight. And I agree. I think he is probably the best case example of an artist that can be large and also not care about traditional industry, politics, stuff, you know? Cause I've been trying to find out. That's what it is. The industry politics, the label stuff, like that type of mentality, but large, yep. Yeah. And it's like, I mean, you know, it's only so many that are even closer than, I think he might be the biggest. I can't think of nobody else. And then maybe, well, I was gonna say, maybe coming here, but that's not true. But so yeah, he might be, yeah, that's not true. But so he has a, he has an indie mentality as big as he is, like the same FU where I don't need the system or want to be involved in X, Y and Z. That's exactly what it is. And he's a good, he's setting a good precedent for those people who are gonna be, you know, actually indie and have a certain mentality. It's like, yeah, you can really just be like, if all of this, I'm running this my way. I don't want to be involved in your games and I'm just playing my own game. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Inspiration on so many ways. Go put them on your wall. No, no, no. I got fans listen to the album first and then I get back, but no. I'm cool with just having the memory to be honest with you. Oh, man. Yeah. But let us know y'all's thoughts in the comments, man. Like is Cole's career over, right? Was this move a soft move or a hard move? You know what I mean, pause, whatever that might be. And also, do y'all think Drake is gonna respond for real if he did? Who would win, Kendrick or Drake? I'm not calling none of these dudes by their nicknames. This is yet another episode, no label necessary. We hopped in for a quick one. Let us know what y'all think about the Zoom episodes as well. I'm Bram and Shine. No Corey. We out. Peace. Peace. All right. Let me get some comments, all right. Yeah, that's gonna be an interesting one. She's doing it.