Kanye West’s latest meltdown has fans revisiting J. Cole’s ‘False Prophets’

Kanye West had another social media meltdown last week. The rapper went on X, formerly Twitter, and spewed venom on everything he could think of. From declaring himself “God,” and targeting different races, to fat-shaming people, West did it all on Elon Musk’s now-controversial platform.

Every time the Chicago rapper goes on one of these meltdowns, it saddens those who've been lifelong fans. Another common thing that happens is that it makes hip-hop fans appreciate J. Cole’s 2016 track “False Prophets” even more. This time is no different.

While Ye was arrogantly making anti-sematic remarks, repeatedly making fun of the Jewish community, calling himself a “racist,” and showing support for Diddy, some fans started posting Cole’s “False Prophets.” One fan wrote, “everytime kanye spirals out of control like this i just play false prophets by jcole.”

Right off, Cole’s song was believed to be about Ye, especially the first verse. In it, the Dreamville rapper questions himself for looking up to someone who is or has been out of control. Cole also addresses how a bad person hides behind the garb of their musical legacy.

He raps, “Ego in charge of every move, he's a star / And we can't look away due to the days that he caught our hearts / He's fallin' apart, but we deny it / Justifying that half a-s s--t he dropped, we always buy it / When he tell us he a genius but it's clearer lately / It's been hard for him to look into the mirror lately / There was a time when this n---a was my hero, maybe / That's the reason why his fall from grace is hard to take.”

Cole states that the said person only has yes men around him who are not holding him accountable or making him realize his mistakes, thus, making him spiral downward. For a while, these were mere conjectures, but then Cole sat down for an interview with Angie Martinez in May 2018 , and things became clear.

When asked about the first verse of “False Prophets,” Cole said, “First of all, [I'm] just a fan. Really, I don't know you. I'm just like a dude that was a fan back in the day, and when I'm writing 'False Prophets,' which that song wasn't about him. There's one verse that applies to him for sure, but if you listen to that song, that song is about what this s--t is exposing.”