Drake was allegedly hesitant to continue performing with J. Cole after Kendrick Lamar dissed them both on Future and Metro Boomin‘s “Like That.”

On the latest episode of the New Rory & Mal podcast, Mal claimed that Drizzy told him he had doubts about joining Cole on stage at this past weekend’s Dreamville Festival, where the North Carolina rap star controversially apologized to Kendrick for firing back at him on “7 Minute Drill.”

“He might get mad at me for talking about but he knows he’s my n-gga. I asked Drake one question. I said, ‘Yo, you going to Dream Fest this weekend?’” Mal said.

“And he gave me an answer that was kind of weird Friday night hearing it, but Sunday night it made all the sense in the world. He says, ‘I don’t know, should I? ‘Cause it’s weird right now. Are we performing the record? Can we ever perform ‘First Person Shooter’?’”

The podcaster continued to relay Drake’s response, seemingly in his own words: “He has to change the bar now. He has to shit on Kendrick now. So we gonna shit on Kendrick every time we do the record? Nobody wants to hear us together unless we dissing Kendrick.”

Listen to the segment below.

Mal asked Drake if he was going to Dreamville Fest this weekend to join J. Cole

Drake said:

“idk should I? cause it’s weird right now… are we performing the record? (First Person Shooter)”

– via Rory & Mal podcast / Elliott’s tweet pic.twitter.com/FviPav9L09

— SOUND (@itsavibe) April 9, 2024

Mal’s comments had many fans thinking about “First Person Shooter” differently given it features a lyric that praises Kendrick (“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, but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali,” Cole raps).

One person said on X: “I never even thought about this. Kendrick’s verse ruined ‘First Person Shooter’ for Cole and Drake because how can they perform it when they praised Kendrick in it? [crying face emoji] Kendrick’s playing chess.”

Another called out Drake for abandoning Cole by not showing up at Dreamville Festival: “Drake left Jermaine out on his own. That’s your friend, sir.”

Someone else joked: “If Drake was on stage while Cole apologized that would’ve been the funniest thing ever,” while one user claimed that Drake was “scared” of Kendrick.

Neither Drake nor Kendrick have yet commented on J. Cole’s much talked about apology to the Compton rapper during his headlining set at Dreamville Festival.

Expressing regret for dissing Kendrick on “7 Minute Drill,” he said: “That shit disrupts my fucking peace. So what I want to say right here tonight is in the midst of me doing that, trying to find a little angle and downplay this n-gga’s fucking catalog and his greatness, I want to say right now tonight, how many people think Kendrick Lamar is one of the greatest motherfuckers to ever touch a fucking microphone? Dreamville, y’all love Kendrick Lamar, correct? As do I.

“I just want to come up here and publicly be like, bruh, that was the lamest, goofiest shit. I say all that to say it made me feel like 10 years ago when I was moving incorrectly. And I pray that God will line me back up on my purpose and on my path.

“I pray that my n-gga really didn’t feel no way and if he did, my n-gga, I got my chin out. Take your best shot. I’ma take that shit on the chin, boy. Do what you do.”