When J. Cole dropped his latest album 2014 Forest Hills Drive earlier this month, one song in particular, "Fire Squad," began making headlines. On the track, he talks about cultural appropriation in hip-hop and name-checks Eminem, Justin Timberlake, Elvis, Iggy Azalea and Macklemore.
"History repeats itself and that's just how it goes / Same way that these rappers always bite each other's flows / Same thing that my n---a Elvis did with rock 'n' roll / Justin Timberlake, Eminem and then Macklemore."
Although Eminem hasn't responded to the line, his fellow Detroit rapper Royce Da 5'9" told Vlad TV that he didn't necessarily think the reference was a diss.
"I don't really have a take," Royce said when asked. "It got blown out of proportion before I could hear the record. You know what I mean? The fire-fuelers got a hold of it before I could actually hear it. It sounded to me like an observation...of an artist being vocal with something he's observing. He may not have used the best words. One could say, 'Why would you throw Em in a certain category?' One could even say, 'Yo, why would you put Em in the same category as Iggy?' You know? Who knows what somebody's gonna get offended by? Us as artists, sometimes we take that risk because what we wanna say we feel is so real. Or we feel like it's something we wanna get off of our chest. Or it's something maybe we wanna express. Sometimes you may do that at the risk of somebody getting offended, not to say Marshall was offended by anything J. Cole said. I haven't spoke to Marshall about the song at all. If there was to be some offense taken, I could see why. Did I listen to it and get offended by it? No. Also, did I feel like he was trying to diss my guy? Absolutely not. If there was some offense taken or if there's anything that leaves any kind of question or doubt as to what whether he meant something by it, then maybe an apology may be in order. But that's not for me to decide."
He did go on to say that he knows that Cole "always seemed to put Em on a pedestal" and just needs to be careful about saying things about people he respects.
Royce's opinion echoes what J. Cole said he meant by the line earlier this month.
"It's silly how big of an Eminem fan I am," he said. "There's a very select group of top notch people that I worship; Eminem was literally at the top of that list. My first song [sounds] like an Eminem bite. If you think I'm dissing Eminem, I know you just read the headline and you're not listening to the song. ...That part of the verse is me making an observation of culture right now, what's happening."
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