#J. Cole Has Surpassed Drake & Kendrick Lamar, Says Joe Budden

J. Cole is widely considered to be part of Hip Hop’s “Big Three” alongside Drake and Kendrick Lamar, but Joe Budden believes he’s clear of both of them.

The Dreamville rapper gave fans a taste of new music earlier in February through a Smack DVD-inspired vlog.

During a recent episode of The Joe Budden Podcast, Budden praised the song snippet and praised Cole as his number one rapper ahead of Drizzy and K. Dot.

“I got Cole as my one,” he said. “I’m hoping that Kendrick’s next album could try to fix that for me. Drake is doing his Chuck E. Cheese shit. Good for him. That’s it now. Yeah, that’s it.”

Joe Budden went on to share his excitement about J. Cole’s upcoming album The Fall Off, which has been teased as his last.

“Remember when Kendrick dropped the title of the last shit and we were trying to figure out what that meant?” he asked his co-hosts. “When I heard The Fall Off and with him hinting at maybe retirement, I thought that would be the marriage between concept and title.

“But after watching some of these vlog clips where he’s just in the restaurant talking to the older lady that doesn’t know who he is. Classic J. Cole. Perfect rollout shit again. This n-gga’s the best at this.”

He continued: “And he’s looking like he’s even uncomfortable having to try to explain who he is to her and she’s just talking about the state of the economy. Dawg, if this n-gga starts tying in The Fall Off with all of this shit? Get him outta here. We know he can. We know he’s a man of the people.

“You know for however many years he’s just been talking to people like humans. From everywhere. Yo, The Fall Off, if that’s The Fall Off. Oh, he is a sicko. We’ll see.”

Budden’s sentiment echoes that of fellow Slaughterhouse alumnus Royce Da 5’9″, who crowned J. Cole the best of the “Big Three” following the release of Dreamville’s D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape in 2022.

“Cole as an Executive separates him from that 3 headed monster convo y’all been having for the last 10 yrs,” the Detroit rapper wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Put some respek on my brother’s name.”

However, Royce still declared K. Dot the best lyricist of the three: “As a career yeah but as far as being an MC Kendrick is the best of the 3 still.”

J. Cole himself previously addressed the long-running debate and suggested he was in “third” place behind Drake and Kendrick.

“Success is in the effort/ So if a n-gga tried his hardest/ I’m at peace knowing God ain’t deal it in this group of cards for me/ Some people say I’m running third/ They threw the bronze at me/ Behind Drake and Dot/ Yeah, them n-ggas is superstars to me,” he rapped on his 2021 song “Heaven’s EP.”