J. Cole’s song “Fire Squad,” a cut off his upcoming Forest Hills Drive, finds the North Carolina rapper playing with, well, fire.
Cole calls out a handful of artists for racial appropriation, claiming that Justin Timberlake, Eminem, and Iggy Azalea have taken hip-hop away from its place in black culture. He draws the parallel with historical examples of racial appropriation.
“History repeats itself and that’s just how it goes / Same way that these rappers always bite each other’s flows,” he raps on the song before naming Justin Timberlake, Eminem and Macklemore.
This year Iggy Azalea beat both Eminem and Drake for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album and Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist at the American Music Awards. This lands her firmly in range of the song’s lyrical assault.
