Drake, J. Cole’s “First Person Shooter” Allegedly Gets Sales Boost Following Kendrick Lamar’s “Like That” Diss
Drake and Kendrick Lamar‘s long-awaited rap beef still hasn’t fully gotten going, but both gentlemen have already seemingly come out as winners. K. Dot’s fiery diss verse on Metro Boomin and Future’s “Like That” allegedly helped give a sales boost to the Toronto rapper and J. Cole’s October 2023 collaboration, “First Person Shooter.”
Kurrco, a popular music account on X (formerly Twitter), reported that the sales boost came out to 15%. Though he did not specifically cite a source, the increased recent listens would make sense. For starters, the Compton rapper mentioned the track’s title verbatim, as well as For All The Dogs, the album it appears on. With it being crystal clear that he was targeting the 6 God, it would make sense for people to go back and listen to his music for possible subliminals.
The ferocity with which the Pulitzer Prize winner rapped caused many people to theorize that “First Person Shooter” was a diss at Lamar. Many fans, plus members of The Joe Budden Podcast, specifically cited Cole’s line “Everybody steppers, well, f**k it, then everybody breakfast and I’m ’bout to clear up my plate.” With everyone looking to do their best Rap Genius detective work, they would have to play the song to be sure.
Whatever the case may be, Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar have a lot to celebrate with both “Like That” and We Don’t Trust You. Both the popular track and album hold the No. 1 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200 Albums chart. It marked the Atlanta rapper’s third No. 1 single, and first without Drake.
Coincidentally, he joined his What A Time To Be Alive collaborator as the only other male artist to debut a song and album at No. 1 on Billboard’s popular charts simultaneously on two separate occasions.
As for K. Dot, this marked his third No. 1 single on the Hot 100 and first in this new decade. “Like That” joins his 2017 single “Humble” and his 2014 collaboration “Bad Blood” with Taylor Swift. As for Metro, this is his first No. 1 single as an artist.
Of course, the biggest talking points from “Like That” to this day are the disses aimed at Drake and J. Cole. Several fans believe that the “Evil Ways” duo has to respond to Kendrick Lamar and neither rapper has done so on wax.
The Toronto rapper has addressed the situation at concerts and Instagram captions. “A lot of people asking me how I’m feelin’,” he said during a Sunrise, Fla., show on the It’s All A Blur – Big As The What? tour. “I got my head up high, my back straight. I’m 10 f**king toes down in Florida or anywhere else I go. And I know no matter what there’s not a ni**a on this Earth that could ever f**k with me in my life.”
He also dropped a spicy Instagram caption after his longtime collaborator Rick Ross posted an Instagram story of himself driving around listening to Kendrick’s verse. “They rather go to war with me than admit they are their own worst enemy,” he wrote in a caption accompanying a collage of photos.