J. Cole and Drake came under fire when they dropped their “Jodeci” freestyle, as Cole World’s “I’m artistic, you niggas is autistic, retarded” offended people. The NC rapper later penned a heartfelt apology, which was shortly followed by Drizzy offering up his own apologies. In a recent interview with MTV, Drake says that the apologies were genuine.
Some scoffed at the fact that the two rapper apologized only because of the negative media attention, and the YMCMB rapper addresses this, and says that both he and Cole just believed it was the right thing to do. “It was just important to reinforce that. A lot of people see it as a cop-out — 'oh, you're apologizing,’” the Toronto native adds, “but sometimes it doesn't pay to be that rebellious. If an apology is what it takes, then [fine]."
Overall he does says it’s just rap, and that the role of the emcee is to let his thoughts flow, which occasionally can touch on subject matter that offends certain people, “At the end of the day, we rap, we say things, and sometimes you can't factor in everybody that's going to be personally offended by the bars that you write.” Drake goes onto say, “there is something to be said for being careless with your lyrics, but writing is a free-mind thing. That's what rap is — it's just wherever your mind goes."