SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Center:J. Cole takes apparent swipe at Drake in 'Red Leather' after Kendrick Lamar diss apology

The SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Centersecond half of Future and Metro Boomin's joint rap album is here — but the beef isn't over.

J. Cole appears as a guest on the "We Still Don't Trust You" track "Red Leather," a seven-minute song that features an apparent swipe at Drake.

“Kept my nose out the streets, but I love to get a whiff / Of the action, with risk comes attraction / The blicks get to blastin’, I turn into a track star,” Cole raps on the track, who also said that his "story's more clever, my similes was better."

Released Friday, "Red Leather" comes just one week after Cole apologized for a diss track, "7 Minute Drill," aimed at Kendrick Lamar, who appeared on "Like That" from the first part of Future and Metro Boomin's project, "We Don't Trust You," released March 22.

Rapper A$AP Rocky, who is the longtime boyfriend of Drake's ex Rihanna, also took shots at Drake on the album saying the Canadian rapper's latest music "came and went" and he didn't "trust" him. The bars appeared on "Show of Hands."

'I was conflicted': J. Cole apologizesto Kendrick Lamar for 'lame' diss '7 Minute Drill'

Lamar, Cole and Drake are widely recognized as their rap class's "Big Three," the most recognizable stars in the genre over the past decade. Last week, one-third of "The Big Three," Cole, exited the trio's viral rap beef.

The North Carolina rapper dropped a surprise album, "Might Delete Later," last Friday, which included "7 Minute Drill." But two days later, at his Dreamville Festival, the rapper told his home state crowd during a headlining set that his diss track was a "lame" and "goofy" decision, in videos captured by attendees.

In "7 Minute Drill," Cole alluded to hearing about Lamar's diss, rapping, "I got a phone call, they say that somebody dissing / You want some attention, it come with extensions."

"He still doing shows but fell off like 'The Simpsons,'" he continued, adding that Lamar's first album was "classic" and his latest was "tragic."

'Big Three' beef explained between J. Cole, Drake and Kendrick Lamar

Cole referred to himself, Drake (Aubrey Graham) and Lamar (K. Dot) as the "big three" in modern rap in Drake's 2023 song "First Person Shooter."

"Love when they argue the hardest MC / Is it K. Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me? / We the big three, like we started a league," he rapped, referring to Ice Cube's Big 3 basketball league. "We the big three like we started a league, but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali."

J. Cole ends Dreamville 2024with a performance in front of South Carolina landmarks

The trio collaborated continuously during the early days of their careers before they reached their respective rap superstardom.

Lamar appeared on Drake's 2011 song "Buried Alive Interlude" and Drake appeared on Lamar's 2012 song "Poetic Justice." As for Lamar and J. Cole, J. Cole rapped and produced Lamar's 2011 songs "Temptation" and "Shock the World." Lamar and J. Cole also released a joint 2015 project titled "Black Friday" in which they rapped over each other's songs.

J. Cole, a past Drake collaborator, seemingly got looped into Drake and Lamar's beef which dates back to 2013. In 2013, Lamar called out Drake, and several other rappers, on Big Sean's "Control," claiming that he loves their music, but adding he wants to "murder" them and snatch their "core fans."