TDE President Punch Jumped Headfirst Into The Debate Over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ After J. Cole Dissed It

TDE President Punch Jumped Headfirst Into The Debate Over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ After J. Cole Dissed It

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Rap Twitter is in a frenzy after J. Cole dropped his surprise mixtape Might Delete Later with its Kendrick Lamar response “7 Minute Drill.” Clapping back on K. Dot after he called out Cole and Drake on “Like That,” the North Carolina rapper asserts “Your first sh*t was classic, your last sh*t was tragic / Your second sh*t put n****s to sleep but they gassed it.”

Putting aside debate about which of Kendrick’s albums counts as his second, the discourse was quickly joined by Top Dawg Entertainment President Terrance “Punch” Henderson, who defended To Pimp A Butterfly and Kendrick as the opinions flew. Unfortunately, even making as innocuous a statement as “I thought to pimp a butterfly was pretty good” opened the industry vet up to a deluge of responses — which, to be fair, he’s pretty much used to after SZA fans used him as their personal punching bag all through the wait for SOS.

SMH. I thought to pimp a butterfly was pretty good.

— Punch TDE (@iamstillpunch) April 5, 2024

His follow-up tweet also garnered a huge response. “The current rap climate got me realizing a lot of you music industry ppl are Kdot haters,” he asserted. “lol you telling me you n****s been secretly hating ALL this time!” He later clarified that “industry ppl” refers to “the folks that work in music,” rather than the rappers currently trading shots on records.

The current rap climate got me realizing a lot of you music industry ppl are Kdot haters. lol you telling me you niggas been secretly hating ALL this time!

— Punch TDE (@iamstillpunch) April 5, 2024

“music industry ppl”, I’m definitely NOT referring to the rappers involved here. I’m talking about the folks that work in music. You niggas.

— Punch TDE (@iamstillpunch) April 5, 2024

The responses largely fall into two categories. One: People who agree with Punch, and two: people who REALLY disagree with Punch. “There’s more Kdot dick riders on Twitter than you’ll ever find in real life lmfao,” read one quote. Another contended, “That privilege people say Drake has is actually Kendrick ten-fold. Drake would drop a pack of ass & go platinum because of who he is, but that’s where it ends. But you see Kendrick? He’ll drop the most unlistenable sh*t, probably poo on a track & be gifted awards.” YIKES.

There’s more Kdot dick riders on Twitter than you’ll ever find in real life lmfao https://t.co/w0Sh9sNCQz

— goatnextdoor (@goatnextdoor1) April 5, 2024

What’s funny, that privilege people say Drake has is actually Kendrick ten-fold.

Drake would drop a pack of ass & go platinum because of who he is, but that’s where it ends. But you see Kendrick? He’ll drop the most unlistenable shit, probably poo on a track & be gifted awards. https://t.co/kKeJKarAH8

— xy (@Cerebrone) April 5, 2024

While many of Punch’s detractors rightly point out that Kendrick has 17 Grammys and a Pulitzer to his name despite the lukewarm reaction to his last album and that it’s not “hate” to simply dislike one of his five (or four, depending on how you count) albums (and many, many side projects), the defenders were more apt to put down any criticism with ad hominem attacks on straw men. Hmmmmm.

It’s one of the greatest albums of all time our generation unfortunately just has the attention span of a goldfish https://t.co/RH3spwVZmH

— Mock drafts here (@bucstruther) April 5, 2024

The majority of people are dumb and lack authenticity and originality so I’m not surprised at these takes. https://t.co/q2HMcKBqdx

— Dreamis (@LaBelleMoi1028) April 5, 2024

TPAB is fire. i aint listening to these casuals. they wouldn’t know creativity if they was injected wit it https://t.co/vOektNX5GX

— “𝓘𝓽’𝓼 𝓡𝓮𝓬𝓴 𝓜𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓲 𝓑𝓪𝓫𝔂” (@TOODAMNG00D) April 5, 2024

As the debate rages on, I feel it’s important to note that it’s all subjective and personal. None of should really be worrying what anyone else thinks, especially if it’s going to result in anger at people you don’t know and will never meet. Let’s all be a little nicer about this, yeah?

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