Why Drake Forgave Future But Hates J Cole

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]People on Twitter have been talking about mainly the track list for the new Iceman project. And the biggest thing everyone is talking about is the fact that Future is on there. It seems wild to a lot of fans because Future was the one who really kicked off the whole 2024 war against Drake. He was the guy who put out those two albums with Metro Boomin that gave everyone a platform to take shots at the OVO camp. But then you look at the song Make Them Pay and you hear how Drake is talking about J. Cole and it sounds like Drake is completely done with Cole and basically says he doesn't know if he can ever forgive him.

[00:00:30]This has people asking a very simple question. How does Drake forgive the guy who started the war, but he can't forgive the guy who was supposed to be his best friend in the industry? If you look at the facts and the timeline of how everything went down though, it starts to make more sense. To understand why this is the case, we have to look at how Drake is around his family and brothers. Drake seems like the kind of person who puts a lot of weight on how you are around when things get tough [music] and he values the private conversation way more than what happens in the public eye. You can see this clearly when you look at how he handled DJ Khaled. Khaled and Drake were like a package deal in the past. [music] Every summer Khaled would have a big anthem and it would almost always have a Drake verse on it. Drake was the guy who helped Khaled roll out his albums and keep his brand relevant in hip hop. But when 2024 got ugly and things got a little intense, Khaled went completely silent. [music] He wasn't just quiet on social media. It looks like he was quiet behind the scenes, too. Drake was going through a lot of heavy stuff. He was in a massive legal fight with his label. He was being attacked on a global scale by Kendrick Lamar. [music] People were literally getting shot at his house in Toronto. He had family issues that were being dragged into the public. [music] Through all of that, Khaled stayed silent and people did try to defend Khaled by saying he shouldn't have to pick a side or drop a diss track. But that misses the point entirely. People were looking for him to be a friend. When your friend is being called terrible things and his house is becoming a crime scene, you reaching out is the least you can do to help. Khaled didn't do that at the time and instead, he stayed completely silent until the dust settled. Then, out of nowhere, after some time passed, he pops up on Instagram with this big announcement and he starts talking about how he has two Drake features coming on his next album.

[00:02:06]He was trying to act like everything was back to normal because he wanted the hits, but Drake was not having any of that as shortly after that he posted a comment saying it must be Drake Bell cuz he is not doing any of that. That move alone was enough for people to assume that there was no conversation had between them about a potential feature and all it was is Khalid trying to use Drake's name for marketing without even checking on the man during his darkest hour. That lack of communication is what killed that relationship. This same logic applies to why Drake is so upset with J. Cole. Arguably, Cole did less damage to Drake than Future ever did.

[00:02:39]Cole was even on the tour with Drake and they were traveling the world together on the It's All a Blur Tour. They were performing on stage and calling each other the greatest. It looked like they were the new power duo in rap. Then Kendrick dropped the Like That verse on Future's album. Cole responded with a diss then he apologized a few days later at his festival. A lot of people thought that was the end of it, but the real issue started after the apology. Cole went on a media run later on and sat down with Cameron and told Cameron that he had spoken to Drake after everything went down. He made it sound like they were still cool and that they had cleared the air.

[00:03:12]>> I've had conversations with them like after post right? Post everything, you know what I mean? But it's not like it's a lot, but that's just, you know, that's me not knowing where they at. But then you have Mal from the new Rory and Mal podcast. Mal is known to be very close to the OVO camp. He went on his show and said that Cole was lying. He told everyone that J. Cole had a conversation with Kendrick Lamar in the middle of the battle, but he never spoke to Drake again.

[00:03:37]>> He better explain why he did what he did. He better explain why he had that conversation with Kendrick. Okay.

[00:03:44]And then never spoke to Drake after that again in his life. He has to explain that. I know I'm with you. He has to explain that. Not at all. I know I'm with you. He has to explain that. That's nasty.

[00:03:53]I [ __ ] with Cole. Cole can rap his ass off. Put it in bars on why you did what you did to Drake, bro. Don't give me all of this Young Simba and this [ __ ] and that No, no, no. Tell the world why you had that conversation with Kendrick before that whole back-and-forth with him and Drake and why you came off that tour with Drake and after Drake gave you your first number one and then you never spoke TO DRAKE AGAIN.

[00:04:18]>> OKAY. Twitter went crazy on Mal for saying that. They said he was just trying to make Drake look like a victim because they were close. But when Drake put out Make Them Pay, he basically confirmed everything Mal said. That Drake has a line where he says that Cole never called him back and never answered the phone. If that is true, then J. Cole sat there and lied to Cameron about the state of his relationship with Drake. To Drake, that is a ultimate betrayal. It's one thing to step out of a fight because you don't want the smoke. It's another thing to stop being a friend and then lie to the public about it. When you compare that to the Future situation, you see a big difference. Future and Drake have a long history. They did a whole tape together with What a Time to Be Alive. They have dozens of hits. When Future put out those Metro Boomin albums, it was a direct attack on Drake.

[00:05:03]There is no way around that. He gave Kendrick the platform to drop the bomb that changed everything. But if you look at how Drake responded to Future, it was never really hateful. He said the Pluto situation made him sick to his stomach.

[00:05:14]That is the language of someone who is hurt by a brother, not someone who wants to destroy an enemy. The reason they were able to patch things up is likely because they actually sat down and talked during that time or right after.

[00:05:25]You cannot make a song and a music video together without having a long conversation first. Future and Drake had to meet up or get on a call and hash out all the mess from 2024. [music] They had to talk about the Metro Boomin situation and why things got so out of hand. Even if they aren't as close as they used to be, they were cordial enough to work together again. So that proved that Future did have a conversation with him and he didn't go ghost like Khaled, and he didn't give Drake the cold shoulder like Cole seemingly did. Future might have been the one to start the fire, but he was also willing to talk about how to put it out. Future also did something that his other friends didn't do. Once the two albums were out, he stopped talking about it and let it go. But, someone like Metro Boomin was on Twitter every day trolling Drake. Rick Ross was on Instagram making fun of Drake's plane and his house. ASAP Rocky was sending shots on social media and also on his recent album. Everyone was doubling down on the hate even after the music was done. Future didn't do any of that. He put the music out, and then he went back to his own world. He didn't participate in the public circus that happened after Kendrick dropped Not Like Us. That probably made it a lot easier for Drake to sit down and listen to what he had to say. It showed that for Future, it was about the business or the competitive nature of rap, but it wasn't a deep-seated personal hatred. J. Cole is in a different category because he was supposed to be Drake's actual friend.

[00:06:43]They were in the middle of a massive business venture with that tour. They were representing the top of the mountain together. When the war started, Drake was being hit from every single side. He had the whole industry teaming up against him. That is the time when you need your friends the most. If Cole really stopped answering the phone, and then went and talked to the guy who was trying to end Drake's career, that is a huge move. It looks like Cole chose the side that was winning because he didn't want to be associated with the losing side, or he just wanted to do that because what Drake thought they were actually wasn't what it was. Drake sees that as a lack of loyalty. He would rather deal with an open enemy like Future than a friend who disappears when things get hard. So, the communication aspect is everything here. Drake has always been a person who talks about loyalty in his music. He talks about the circle getting smaller. He talks about people changing when the pressure gets high. To him, Future being honest and having a conversation shows more respect than Cole staying silent. If you have a problem with me, tell me. If we we cool, show me. Don't tell the world we are cool while you are ignoring my texts.

[00:07:44]That seems to be the core of the issue.

[00:07:46]People think Drake is being petty, but in his mind, he is just reacting to how people treated him when his back was against the wall. You also have to look at the power dynamic. Future and Drake together make amazing music. They know that when they lock in, they can make something crazy. There is a lot of money on the table when they work together.

[00:08:03]But even with the money, Drake has shown he will walk away from a bag if he feels disrespected. He walked away from Khaled in those hits. He walked away from the potential of more J. Cole collaborations. [music] The fact that he stayed with Future tells you that the conversation they had was real. It wasn't just a business deal. It was a resolution of a conflict between two men who have a decade of history together. But what do you guys think though? Are Drake and Future ever going to patch things up? Or are they going to end up like this forever? Let me know in the comments and we can discuss about it. Until next time, see you.